Jurors this past May convicted Alejandro Velasquez-Martinez, a 48-year-old Colombian national living in Morristown, of sexually assaulting the girl while doing tile repairs in her family’s home in Demarest the morning of August 19, 2019.
Velasquez-Martinez was arrested a short time later in Demarest and has remained in the Bergen County Jail since then.
His next stop isn’t certain.
If he goes to state prison, Velasquez-Martinez will have to serve 34 years before he’ll be eligible for parole under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act.
That would put him in his 80s.
There’s an added wrinkle, however: Federal authorities issued a detainer within days after Velasquez-Martinez was arrested.
It’s up to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) whether to take custody of him for deportation proceedings now that he’s been sentenced or have Velasquez-Martinez serve his time in New Jersey before he’s deported.
Velasquez-Martinez was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, and child endangerment following a four-day jury trial in Superior Court in Hackensack.
Assistant Prosecutors Meredith Kunz and Katie McLaughlin secured the aggravated sexual assault conviction and sentence, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said on Wednesday, Oct. 4. They were assisted by Detectives Christina Ferencevych and David Dermody and Victim Witness Advocate Coreen Matarazzo, the prosecutor said.
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