Pawtucket Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Failing to Register as a Sex Offender

PROVIDENCE, RI – A convicted sex offender who previously admitted to a federal judge that he failed to register as a sex offender as required by law has been sentenced to one year in federal prison, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

According to information presented to the court, Antonia Medina-Santiago, 34, previously convicted in Pennsylvania of indecent assault on a person under the age of thirteen, failed to register as a sex offender in Pennsylvania following his release from prison in that state, as required by law, and he failed to register as a sex offender when he moved to Rhode Island.

Based on information on Medina-Santiago’s whereabouts developed by the United States Marshals Service, on June 14, 2022, members of the Rhode Island Violent Fugitive Task Force and the Pawtucket Police Department approached Medina-Santiago as he was walking near his Pawtucket residence. As members of law enforcement approached him, he fled on foot back to his residence and barricaded himself inside an apartment behind a locked steel door. On the advice of a relative, Medina-Santiago surrendered about thirty minutes later to members law enforcement who had surrounded the residence.

Medina-Santiago was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith to twelve months of incarceration to be followed by five years of federal supervised release. Upon completion of his term of incarceration, Medina-Santiago will be turned over to Pennsylvania authorities in response to an arrest warrant pending in that state.

The case in federal court in Rhode Island was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald R. Gendron.