West Palm Beach Sex Offender Sentenced to 5 Years’ Imprisonment after Jury Convicts for Failure to Properly Register

MIAMI – On Aug. 19, Ramon Fuertes, a/k/a “Raymond Cortez,” of West Palm Beach, Fla. was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment after a federal jury convicted him of four counts of failure of a sex offender to properly register, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a).

According to evidence introduced during the trial, Fuertes had been convicted in 2009 in federal court for sex trafficking of a minor and enticement of a minor. In 2018, upon completion of his federal prison sentence, Fuentes registered as a sex offender. In January and May 2023, Fuertes created and used two email addresses and a social networking account. Fuertes did not properly register these internet identifiers with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO) as required by the Federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). Moreover, on June 2, 2023, Fuertes vacated his West Palm Beach residence and flew to Georgia to live without notifying the proper authorities in the Southern District of Florida that he was terminating his residence in that jurisdiction and commencing his residence in another jurisdiction.

As the evidence at trial showed, while in Georgia, Fuertes did not properly register as a sex offender and by late July 2023, stopped communicating with law enforcement in Georgia and Florida about his whereabouts.  An arrest warrant was issued for Fuertes shortly thereafter. He was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) Fugitive Task Force on Oct. 24, 2023. 

In April 2024, a West Palm Beach jury convicted Fuertes after a six-day trial. On July 18, 2024, U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian sentenced Fuertes to 60 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by 60 months’ supervised release. In imposing the sentence, Judge Damian noted that Fuertes “has a history of noncompliance with rules.”

U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida and U.S. Marshal Gadyaces S. Serralta of the USMS made the announcement.

USMS Miami investigated this matter, with assistance from PBSO, FBI, and Georgia Bureau of Investigations, as well as the Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office, Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office, and Gwinnett County Police Department, all in Georgia.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Schiller prosecuted the case.

You may find a copy of this press release (and any updates) on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 23-CR-80208.

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