FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jennifer Morrill
PHONE: (201) 577-6699
EMAIL: jmorrill@hcpo.org
TWITTER: @HCPOProsecutor
WEB: hudsoncountyprosecutorsofficenj.org
DATE: February 21, 2020
JERSEY CITY PASTOR SENTENCED TO EIGHT YEARS FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT
Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez has released the following information:
On Friday, February 21, 2020, the Honorable Patrick Arre, J.S.C. sentenced Orlando Martinez-Chavez, age 48, a Jersey City pastor, to eight years in State Prison as a result of his conviction by a jury for the sexual assault of a ten-year-old girl.
Martinez-Chavez must serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole, pursuant to the No Early Release Act. He was also sentenced to five years to be served concurrently for his conviction on the charge of Endangering the Welfare of a Child for the same victim.
On Thursday, September 19, 2019, Martinez-Chavez, a pastor at the Iglesia Pentecostal Lirio de los Valles church in Jersey City, was convicted by a Hudson County jury of one count of Sexual Assault in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2b, a second-degree crime, and one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:24-4a(1), a third-degree crime. Martinez-Chavez sexually assaulted a 10-year old female member of the church where he was a pastor in 2013.
On October 15, 2019, Martinez-Chavez also pleaded guilty on charges related to two additional victims. He was sentenced to eighteen months for the charge of Criminal Sexual Contact in Violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:14-3b, a crime of the fourth degree for the second victim and for five years for Endangering the Welfare of a Child in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:24-4a(1), a crime of the third-degree for the third victim. The sentencing for the pleas will run concurrent to his eight year sentence.
Martinez-Chavez is required to register under Megan’s Law and is subject to Parole Supervision for Life.
The State was represented by Assistant Prosecutor Angela Gingerelli of the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit.