Illegal Alien Charged With Failing to Update His Sex Offender Registration, Unlawfully Reentering the U.S. After Deportation

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Gilberto Martinez Geronimo, 52, a Mexican national who has been illegally residing in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, was charged by indictment with failure to register as a sex offender and illegally reentering the U.S. after deportation.

The defendant has been detained in federal custody since May 19, following his arrest on a criminal complaint and warrant.

The indictment alleges that, from approximately May 2021 until last month’s arrest, Martinez Geronimo, a convicted sex offender, knowingly failed to update a registration, as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”).

The indictment further alleges that, despite having previously been deported and removed from the United States, the defendant knowingly and unlawfully reentered the country without applying for or receiving the U.S. government’s permission.

As detailed in court filings, in July 2000, Martinez Geronimo was charged by the Somerset County (N.J.) Prosecutor’s Office with Aggravated Sexual Assault, Endangering the Welfare of a Child, and Diseased Person Committing an Act of Sexual Penetration. He was convicted of those charges in New Jersey Superior Court in February 2001 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. In January of 2007, Martinez Geronimo was released from state custody into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) and deported back to Mexico the same month.

If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and ICE and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Branwen McNabb O’Donnell.

The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.