Salvadoran National Charged with Failure to Register as a Sex Offender

BOSTON - A Salvadoran national was charged Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, in federal court in Boston with failure to register as a sex offender as required under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

Melvin Velasquez, 34, was charged with one count of failure to register as a sex offender.  U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald L. Cabell ordered him detained pending trial.

According to court records, in 2007, Velasquez was convicted in New York of one count of rape in the third degree and sentenced to eight months in jail. Velasquez was subsequently required to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction where he resided or worked. Velasquez, who was determined to be illegally present in the United States, was sentenced on the rape charge, and, upon completion of his sentence in 2008, deported to El Salvador.

Sometime thereafter, Velasquez returned to the United States and assumed a false identity. In May 2018, Velasquez, using his alias, was arrested and charged with various motor vehicle violations. Velasquez’s fingerprints were obtained and found to match the prints in his A-file and from his 2007 New York rape conviction. Law enforcement then queried the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board and determined that Velasquez had not registered, as required by law, in Massachusetts.

The charge of failure to register provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000 fine. Velasquez will be subject to deportation proceedings. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; United States Marshal John Gibbons of the District of Massachusetts; and, Rebecca Adducci, Interim Field Office Director, Boston, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth G. Shine of Lelling’s of the Major Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.