San Martin
– Accused child rapist Victor Rangel Tellez was charged Tuesday
with seven counts of felony aggravated sexual abuse of someone
younger than 14 years old.
By Lori Stuenkel
San Martin – Accused child rapist Victor Rangel Tellez was charged Tuesday with seven counts of felony aggravated sexual abuse of someone younger than 14 years old.
Tellez, 38, of San Martin, is accused of abusing a now-14-year-old Gilroy resident during a roughly six- to seven-year period.
If convicted of all the charges, Tellez could face a sentence of 105 years to life in prison, because each of the seven counts carries a sentence of 15 years to life, and can run consecutively, according to Deputy District Attorney Steve Fein.
“There were a number of different witnesses that were interviewed and (these charges are) based on all those witnesses, including the victim, other witnesses and the defendant,” Fein said.
Six of the counts are for rape, and one is for oral copulation. The sexual abuse is considered “aggravated” due to several factors, including the severity of the acts; an age difference of at least 10 years between Tellez and the girl; and the use of force to commit the abuse, Fein said. Force can be physical and non-physical, he added, including duress or coercion.
In an interview with Gilroy police, the girl “indicated she had been molested by the defendant over a multi-year period, and she indicated it was by force,” Fein said. “The officer also spoke with other multiple witnesses that had information about the events.”
Wearing a brown shirt issued by the county department of corrections on top of his orange jail garb to indicate he is in protective custody, Tellez spoke to answer Superior Court Judge Kenneth Shapero’s “yes” or “no” questions and to verify that no bail was set.
Shapero also issued a protective order, barring Tellez from contact of any kind with the victim for the next year.
Tellez is expected to appear before Judge Shapero Friday to enter a plea.
Tellez’s wife Nancy was in the courtroom briefly Tuesday, although she had to return to work before her husband appeared. She attributed her husband’s actions in the Gilroy Police Department Saturday, Feb. 26 to emotional problems. On that day, police said a visibly distraught Tellez needed to confess some “bad things.” They also indicated that he was the one who told family members about the alleged abuse.
“He was really paranoid, he was depressed and had anxiety,” Nancy Tellez said.
Her husband had been working extra hours as a tow truck driver earlier this year so she could take time off, she said, and the strain eventually got to him. He’s been out of work since February, she said, and has increasingly been depressed and anxious.
Nancy Tellez said her husband was upset about his own troubled childhood.
“He was involved in church and a lot of good stuff,” she said. “If he’s going to get punished for something he did, that’s OK, but not for something he didn’t do.”
The couple has three children together, and Nancy Tellez said they miss their father.
