Pawtucket Man Admits to Failing to Register as a Sex Offender

PROVIDENCE, RI – A convicted sex offender living in Pawtucket who was previously convicted in Pennsylvania of indecent assault on a person under the age of thirteen pleaded guilty in federal court in Providence today to a charge of failure to register as a sex offender, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

According to charging documents and information presented to the court, following his release from prison and a halfway house in Pennsylvania, Antonio Medina-Santiago, 34, failed to register as a sex offender, as required by law. Arrest warrants for Santiago-Medina were issued by the Philadelphia Police Department in December 2022 and by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections in January 2023.

 Further investigation by the United States Marshals Service determined that Santiago-Medina has relatives in Rhode Island and that in May 2022 he began utilizing federal benefits in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Further investigation determined that Medina-Santiago resided at his mother’s Pawtucket residence before moving to a different apartment in Pawtucket.

On June 1, 2022, as members of law enforcement approached Medina-Santiago as he was walking near his residence, he fled on foot back to his residence and barracked 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 his residence.

Santiago-Medina is scheduled to be sentenced on February 22, 2024. The defendant’s sentence will be determined by a federal district judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ronald R. Gendron.

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