Fugitive New Jersey Pastor in Child Sex Assault Caught in Honduras

WABC
December 24, 2016

http://abc7ny.com/news/fugitive-nj-pastor-in-child-sex-assault-caught-in-honduras/1670158/

A former New Jersey church pastor was sentenced on sexual assault charges nearly two years after he fled the country following his conviction.

Forty-nine-year-old Gregorio Martinez appeared in Hudson County Superior Court Friday. He was sentenced on charges of aggravated criminal sexual contact, endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse.

Martinez, once a Pentecostal preacher in Jersey City, was found guilty of molesting a 13-year-old boy he got to know through a church in North Bergen in February 2015. Additionally, the Hudson County Prosecutor's office filed more sexual assault charges after three 19-year-old men also accused him of sexual assault.

Prosecutors say Martinez skipped a pre-sentencing interview and fled the country. He led them on a chase through Panama, Nicaragua and Guatemala before being apprehended in Honduras last week and brought back to New Jersey Thursday.

In court, prosecutors, said that Martinez never had any intention of coming back to the U.S. Honduran police arrested him while he was apparently trying to burn his hands to remove his fingerprints.

"This investigation involved the teamwork of several law enforcement partners and our Fugitive Unit detectives," Hudson County prosecutor Esther Suarez said. "We are appreciative of the tenacious effort and dedication which led to his apprehension."