New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
A previously deported Salvadoran national appeared in federal court in Boston today to face the charge of failure to register as a sex offender.
Oscar Alfaro, 46, is in state custody in connection with sexual assault charges stemming from a 2016 incident in Newbury. On Dec. 21, 2017, Alfaro was indicted in federal court on one count of failure to register as a sex offender.
In 2008, Alfaro was convicted in Virginia state court for taking indecent liberties with a child. As a result, Alfaro was required to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction where he lives or works. Following his 2008 conviction, Alfaro was deported.
In March 2016, Alfaro committed an indecent assault and battery in Massachusetts, which qualified as a sex offense under Massachusetts state law. After the assault, Alfaro left Massachusetts. The U.S. Marshals Service located and apprehended Alfaro in Virginia in November 2017 and returned him to Massachusetts to face the state sexual assault charges.
Failing to register as a sex offender provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, a minimum of five years and up to lifetime supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. Alfaro will be subject to deportation upon completion of his sentence. 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 and John Gibbons, United States Marshal for the District of Massachusetts, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Paruti, Lelling’s Project Safe Childhood Coordinator and a member of the Major Crimes Unit, is prosecuting the case.
The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.
