Former Chief of Staff to Mayor in Lawrence Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges

BOSTON - The former Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Lawrence, Mass., pleaded guilty on Dec. 6, 2024 in federal court in Boston to transporting and possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Jhovanny Martes-Rosario, 50, pleaded guilty to one count of transportation of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for March 10, 2025. In April 2023, Martes-Rosario was indicted by a federal grand jury.

Martes-Rosario was identified by law enforcement as the likely user of Yahoo and Apple accounts, in February 2023, containing child pornography. A search was executed at Martes-Rosario's residence and an iPad device was seized which contained child pornography files. Martes-Rosario admitted that he was the owner of the email addresses and that he searched for and downloaded child pornography to his personal iPad and later sent it to his email address for storage. He also admitted he had been searching for and storing child pornography for years.

The charge of transportation of child pornography provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and up to 20 years in prison, a mandatory minimum of five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of possession of child pornography provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy, Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division and Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Essex County District Attorney's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus of the Major Crimes Unit and Meghan C. Cleary of the Criminal Division are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. 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 https://www.justice.gov/psc.