Fugitive molester accused of sexually abusing teen while on the run

By Mark Mueller And Enrique Lavin
NJ.com
July 5, 2016

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2016/07/fugitive_preachers_alleged_sex_abuse_rampage_conti.html

Gregorio Martinez, who is wanted by authorities in New Jersey for molesting a 13-year-old boy, poses with a selection of cakes during a lavish party he threw for himself in November 2015 while hiding out in Esteli, Nicaragua. Martinez remains at large.

Gregorio Martinez's profile picture on a YouTube account under his name. The former Jersey City resident is accused of inappropriately touching as many as eight teenage boys and young adults.

Gregorio Martinez embraces Paula Martinez, no relation, at his birthday party in Esteli, Nicaragua, in November. Paula Martinez had denied knowing the fugitive molester's whereabouts.

An evangelical preacher wanted by authorities in New Jersey for molesting a teenage boy and for allegedly abusing three other young men has been accused by a parishioner of groping a teen in Nicaragua, where the fugitive had been in hiding, according to church officials there.

Gregorio Martinez, whose flight from justice was profiled in a special report by NJ Advance Media in May, allegedly groped a 15-year-old boy in Estelí, Nicaragua, earlier this year, said Pedro Matamoros, the pastor of the church where Martinez lived for about seven months.

Martinez, 48, left the city Feb. 1, after Matamoros learned of his past and confronted him, the pastor said. Later in February, the alleged victim's mother told the pastor Martinez had touched her son inappropriately in January, Matamoros said in a recent interview. Martinez remains at large.

Enrique Osorio, who presides over a council of Pentecostal churches in the city, confirmed the allegation had been lodged and said he reported it to the national police in Nicaragua.

Authorities, with assistance from Interpol, were hunting for Martinez, Osorio said. A spokesman for the national police in Estelí did not respond to a request for comment.

Martinez, a former Jersey City resident who grew up in the Dominican Republic, was convicted in February 2015 of molesting a 13-year-old boy he knew from his Union City church. He also is charged with sexually assaulting or attempting to sexually assault three young adults, ages 18 and 19.

Permitted to remain free on $250,000 bail, he soon fled the country.

Earlier this year, NJ Advance Media traced him to Estelí, a city of about 120,000. Two reporters traveled to the city in mid-February. By then, he was gone.

Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said in a statement her office has an "ongoing and active" investigation into Martinez's whereabouts.

"This office has been working with federal and international agencies to assure his apprehension," Suarez said.

Through a spokesman, Suarez declined to answer additional questions about the search. She also declined to say whether others could face criminal liability if they are found to have been in contact with Martinez and failed to report his location.

In its report last month, NJ Advance Media cited witnesses who said Jersey City residents Paula and Kelvin Martinez attended Gregorio Martinez's birthday party in Estelí. The mother and son, ages 52 and 28, are close friends with the fugitive but are not related.

The news organization has since obtained photos of the party from a man who attended the event. The man, a former member of the Estelí church where Gregorio Martinez lived, asked that his name be withheld. He said Gregorio Martinez told party-goers not to post photos on social media. The authenticity of the pictures was confirmed by Jessenia Zarate, the wife of a local pastor. Both Zarate and her husband were at the party, held at a banquet hall in Estelí.

Reached on her cell phone, Paula Martinez hung up on a reporter after he told her about the photos.

Family members and friends of Paula and Kelvin Martinez say they are at a loss to explain the pair's apparent devotion to Gregorio Martinez.

"I can't understand it," said Wilson Melendez, the former pastor of Jersey City's Bethsaida Christian Church, where Paula Martinez, her son and Gregorio Martinez all were members.

"This guy did a good job of brainwashing them," Melendez said.

The three left the church in an acrimonious split in 2011, Melendez said, when Gregorio Martinez was accused of molesting a 16-year-old boy he had recruited to a private, unsanctioned prayer group.

The teen, a member of a different church, reported the alleged abuse to his youth minister, Jonathan Olavarria. Olavarria, in turn, brought it to Melendez's attention and went with the boy and his mother to a Jersey City police precinct, where a report was taken, Olavarria confirmed.

Charges in the case were never brought, Olavarria said, adding he does not know why.

A spokesman for the prosecutor's office declined to comment when asked about the circumstances of the decision not to charge Martinez.

Melendez said he reported the allegation to the Assembly of United Christian Churches, a Pentecostal denomination based in the Bronx, and that the group suspended Martinez's preacher's license.

Olavarria, now senior pastor of the Hub Church in Jersey City, said Martinez needs to be stopped.

"He is not a true prophet," Olavarria said. "He's a manipulator, using the name of God to entice young people. He's using the church to feed into his own sexual desires."