Sexual Predator Back in Hudson County after Months on the Run
By Katie Sobko
A fugitive who was convicted of sexual offenses against a 13-year-old boy in 2015 is now in custody at the Hudson County Correctional Facility, authorities said. Gregorio Martinez, 49, a pastor and deacon at several churches in Hudson County, was convicted by a Hudson County jury of sexual offenses against the boy, a parishioner at his church, in February 2015, Hudson County prosecutor Esther Suarez said. Martinez was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual contact, endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse. Before the jury selection process, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office had filed additional sexual assault charges against Martinez in connection with the sexual assault of a 19-year-old man who attended the church where Martinez was pastor, Suarez said. After the verdict was reached, new sexual assault charges were filed against Martinez, accusing him of offenses committed against two additional 19-year-old men whom he had spiritually counseled. He failed to appear for a mandatory pre-sentence interview after his conviction in the initial case and he fled the country. Suarez said he was traced through Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras. Martinez was detained by Honduran law enforcement officials in Danli, Honduras, in August after an 18-month search by law enforcement. He was returned to the United States on Aug. 20, at which time U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents took over custody from U.S. Marshals and Honduran government agents in Miami. Martinez had been detained in Florida, awaiting extradition to New Jersey, since August, Suarez said. He will now be sentenced for his conviction in the case of the 13-year-old boy, and he will stand trial on the additional sexual assault charges filed by the Prosecutor’s Office in 2015.
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