Prosecutor: Pastor may have tried to destroy fingerprints

NEW JERSEY
News 12

Updated December 23, 201

By The Associated Press

JERSEY CITY – A prosecutor says a church pastor who has been on the run for nearly two years after he was convicted of sexual assault charges may have tried to obliterate his own fingerprints.

The Assistant Hudson County Prosecutor said in court Friday that Gregorio Martinez’s 10 fingers were bloodied and bandaged when he was detained in Honduras in August.

Martinez was once a Pentecostal preacher in Jersey City. He was found guilty last year of molesting a 13-year-old boy he knew through church. Prosecutors say Martinez then fled to Nicaragua.

NJ.com reports that he appeared in court in Jersey City Friday and was held without bail pending sentencing March 24.

Martinez also faces additional charges after three 19-year-old men also accused of him of sexual assault following his initial conviction.

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