New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
A previously deported Salvadoran national pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston yesterday to failure to register as a sex offender and unlawful reentry of a deported alien.
Oscar Alfaro, 47, who is currently in state custody in connection with sexual assault charges stemming from a 2016 incident in Newbury, pleaded guilty to one count of failure to register as a sex offender and one count of unlawful reentry of a deported alien. U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns scheduled sentencing for July 31, 2019.
In 2008, Alfaro was convicted in Virginia state court of taking indecent liberties with a child. As a result, Alfaro is required to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction where he lives or works. After serving a sentence for his 2008 conviction, Alfaro was deported.
At some point following his deportation, Alfaro illegally reentered the United States. In March 2016, it was reported that Alfaro had committed an indecent assault and battery, which qualifies as a sex offense under Massachusetts state law. After the assault was reported, Alfaro left Massachusetts. The U.S. Marshals Service located and apprehended Alfaro in Virginia in November 2017 and returned him to Massachusetts to face state sexual assault charges.
Failing to register as a sex offender provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison and a minimum of five years and up to a lifetime supervised release. Unlawful reentry provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison and three years of supervised release. Both offenses carry a fine of up to $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/.
