Man in missing-mom case sentenced to Utah prison

SALT LAKE CITY - A man police believe could lead them to a missing Carson City mother was sentenced Monday to a Utah prison.

Israel "Juan Carlos" Tellez, 36, could serve up to five years for pulling a gun on police in Salt Lake City when they approached him to question him in the disappearance of Bertha Anguiano, 33.

The married mother of three was last seen talking with a man who fits Tellez's description Nov. 10 outside a Carson City elementary school. Some 90 minutes later, her 3-year-old son was found bloodied and abandoned behind a Dayton grocery store. He told police "Juan" had killed his mother.

Tellez, 36, was found guilty by a Utah jury March 19 of felony aggravated assault, possession of a weapon by a restricted person and carrying a concealed weapon. He was sentenced to five years in prison on the assault and possession charge and received up to one year on the concealed- weapon charge, to be served concurrently, said Salt Lake prosecutor Fred Burmeister.

Carson City investigators were watching Tellez's blue 1992 GMC Jimmy truck Nov. 21 in a parking lot in Salt Lake City. When officers stopped him for questioning, he pulled a gun from his waistband, reports indicate.

Burmeister described Tellez as contrite when he addressed the court through an interpreter during the sentencing hearing Monday morning.

"He said essentially that he had prior experience with being a police officer in Mexico, and that he feels very bad for (the investigator) and he felt he was just doing his job," Burmeister recalled.

In a pre-sentence report, Tellez said he was going to receive $150 from a friend for delivering a gun to the apartment complex where police confronted him, Burmeister said.

A search of Tellez's vehicle, recovered after his arrest, revealed blood in the backseat that genetically matched a female relative of her 3-year-old son, although investigators cannot say it is Anguiano's. The blood on the boy's clothing also matched the blood in the vehicle. Tellez has denied any knowledge of Anguiano's whereabouts, according to police.

Several searches of area mines and fields have been unable to uncover any clues to the missing woman's location.

Contact F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.