11.25 years in prison for DUI manslaughter in Eustis

TAVARES — A 66-year-old man facing DUI manslaughter charges after leaving Leesburg’s Bikefest in 2022 tried to get a better deal than the one that prosecutors were offering by pleading no contest. But he ended up being sentenced to almost a year more in prison by Circuit Judge Heidi Davis.

Edgar Tello was sentenced to 135 months in prison. He was trying to get 124.5 months, the bottom of the sentencing guidelines. His driver’s license has been permanently revoked and he will be on a year’s probation after he leaves prison. He also must take a mandatory DUI class and participate in a victim’s awareness program.

Tello’s blood-alcohol level was almost twice the legal limit when he lost control of his speeding motorcycle in Eustis on April 25, 2022, authorities say. He left the road, struck a construction sign and ended up on the sidewalk, killing his passenger, Rebekah Towner, 28, and leaving him with head and neck injuries.

The crash occurred at North Grove Street and Pendleton Avenue in Eustis. A motorist said the motorcycle was speeding beyond the 25 mph limit when it began swerving and crashed.

Tello said he had only one beer at Bikefest in Leesburg, according to the probable cause affidavit.

He told a Eustis investigator that he met Towner at a bar in Tavares and said she “needed a ride home, which is why she was riding with him on the motorcycle,” according to the affidavit. Tavares police, which has had multiple dealings with Towner, described her as “mostly homeless.”

They went to a bar in Eustis, where he could not recall how many drinks they consumed. At one point, a bar manager told her she had to leave because she was asking people to buy her drinks.

Tello was seen on surveillance video leaving the bar with Towner on the back of the motorcycle.

Her blood-alcohol level was at the legal limit of intoxication, plus she had several narcotics onboard: amphetamine, methamphetamine, benzoylecgonine, fentanyl and norfentanyl, authorities said.

Tello had three prior DUIs and had been convicted of two counts of murder, two of robbery, two more of kidnapping, and one count of burglary of a dwelling in 1983 in Miami.

“He was sentenced to 10 years (in prison) but only served three years,” said Assistant State Attorney Gabe Lozano.

“Gain time (time off for good behavior) was really crazy back then,” he said. “He claimed he was working as an undercover drug agent. I never heard anyone else say that.”

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: 11.25 years in prison for DUI manslaughter in Eustis