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Gene Kennedy ReportingThe man is suspected of stealing a purse from a 96 year-old woman last week and leading police on two high-speed chases. Officers caught him last night at the Smith's in the Avenues.
Just a few hours before last night's arrest, police tried to catch their man at a gas station on Salt Lake's east side. He got away, as he's done before. But it all changed when he pulled into this parking lot.
It's been a case of get-away after get-away but last night John Gertino got caught.
Lt. Gary Layton, Salt Lake City Police: "He was in the store, we surrounded the car and sent officers in and apprehended him without incident."
Jeff Bedard, Salt Lake City Police: "We're happy first of all we were able to arrest this guy and that nobody got hurt, that's ultimately what we want."
Police say he is NOT suspected of anything as severe as homicide. In fact, he's a petty criminal, according to officers. But he is still a man who seems to evade severe consequences.
Court records show he's been in and out of the system for petty crimes for well over a decade, but has served minimal prison time. In fact, he was on probation for two previous crimes at the time of last night's arrest.
Lt. Gary Layton: "For the last two days we've had a car dedicated trying to find him."
That's because he allegedly led police on two high-speed chases in the last few days. Last night, officers say he was driving his own car, but with stolen plates.
Lt. Gary Layton: "It seems to be that he's changed his plates twice. When we chased his car tonight, it had a different set of plates than it does now."
We're still waiting to hear from police if the elderly woman got her purse back. But in the meantime, Gertino has been booked into jail on two counts of fleeing, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of stolen property.
