Fugitive former pastor brought back to NJ for sentencing

NEW JERSEY
The Trentonian

By The Associated Press
POSTED: 12/23/16

JERSEY CITY >> A former New Jersey church pastor will be sentenced on sexual assault charges nearly two years after he fled the country following his conviction in February 2015.

Forty-nine-year-old Gregorio Martinez is set to be sentenced Friday in Hudson County Superior Court 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.

Prosecutors say Martinez skipped a pre-sentencing interview and fled to Nicaragua. He was apprehended in Honduras last week and brought back to New Jersey on Thursday.

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