Salvadoran National Sentenced for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender

BOSTON - A Salvadoran national, illegally present in the United States, was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for failure to register as a sex offender as required under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

Melvin Velasquez, 34, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to eight months in prison and five years of supervised release. In November 2018, Velasquez pleaded guilty to one count of failure to register as a sex offender. Velasquez was charged by criminal complaint in August 2018 and has been in federal custody since his arrest.  

In 2007, Velasquez was convicted in New York of one count of rape in the third degree and sentenced to eight months in prison and eight years of probation. As a condition to his probation, Velasquez was required by SORNA to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction where he resided or worked. Velasquez, who was also determined to be illegally present in the United States, was deported to El Salvador following the completion of his sentence.

Sometime thereafter, Velasquez returned to the United States, assumed a false identity, and was living and working in East Boston. 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 alien file stemming from his 2007 New York rape conviction. Law enforcement subsequently discovered that Velasquez had not registered, as required by law, with the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; United States Marshal John Gibbons of the District of Massachusetts; and Todd M. Lyons, 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 Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.