A judge has issued a warrant for the arrest of a former Bismarck doctor convicted of terrorizing.

Dr. Emilio Cruz was found guilty of the Class Cfelony on July 16. A sentencing hearing was scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday, but Cruz was stuck in Las Vegas because his flight had been cancelled due to the snowstorm in Bismarck.

"I was out of the state completing a move out of my home in Bismarck, which I was forced to sell to avoid a foreclosure," Cruz wrote in a letter faxed to South Central District Judge Gail Hagerty earlier on Friday.

"Since I have not worked since April, I was forced to complete the move myself by U-Haul." Cruz was moving to California.

Cruz, a neurologist, was terminated from Medcenter One on April 25, but officials at the hospital were unable to comment on the reason for his termination. His license with the North Dakota State Board of Medical Examiners is active but expires at the end of the year.

A bond order prohibited Cruz from leaving North Dakota.

"He did not ask for prior permission from the court to travel to California," Cruz's attorney, Michael Hoffman, wrote in an e-mail to Hagerty on Friday.

Cruz said in his letter that he intended to make it back to Bismarck in time for the sentencing but was unable to find a flight out after his was cancelled.

Hagerty signed a warrant for Cruz's arrest on Friday. Hoffman's letter said Cruz intends to return to Bismarck and turn himself in to the Burleigh County Sheriff's Department.

Cruz's conviction stems from a December 2007 incident when Cruz threatened his girlfriend's 13-year-old son with a knife. Cruz has denied it happened, and in the letter to Hagerty indicates he has been speaking with another attorney to consider whether to move for a new trial in the case. The jury in the case found Cruz guilty of terrorizing but found him not guilty of simple assault.

His sentencing previously had been set for Oct. 15 but was rescheduled due to uncertainty about victim impact statements from Cruz's girlfriend and her son. The statements say the incident for which Cruz was convicted did not happen, but neither Hoffman nor Burleigh County Assistant State's Attorney Pamela Nesvig had been able to validate the statements by the October hearing.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)