Boston man who was deported by ICE while he had pending child rape charges in Massachusetts is brought back to the U.S. five years later – By Scott J. Croteau (Mass Live) / Aug 12 2019
A Boston man was brought back to Massachusetts to face child rape charges five years after he was deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials while the case was still pending in court.
Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins announced that 48-year-old Jose “Brujo” Ortega, formerly of Roslindale, was brought back from the Dominican Republic to face charges in Suffolk Superior Court.
Ortega had a default warrant issued against him in the pending child sexual assault case after he was removed from the United States.
His removal by ICE officials prevented the case from moving forward, Rollins said in a news release.
“I’m grateful to the prosecutors, police, and federal partners who worked to help us hold an alleged child predator accountable,” Rollins said. “This lengthy process comes to fruition today, as the defendant returns to Suffolk Superior Court five years after he was removed from the reach of our criminal justice system.”
Ortega is facing three counts of rape of a child under 16, two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and one count each of open and gross lewdness and providing obscene material to a minor.
He appeared in court Monday and was held on $100,000 cash bail.
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“At the time of his alleged offenses in Boston, the defendant was the manager of the Boston Broncos youth baseball league,” authorities said. “Beginning in 2003, when the victim was as young as 12 or 13, and continuing until 2010, the defendant allegedly groomed the victim for abuse and assaulted him on multiple occasions.”
Prosecutors accuse Ortega of securing the alleged victim’s silence and compliance by “refusing to allow the boy to play in games if he did not give in to the defendant’s sexual advances.”
In 2014, Ortega was indicted in the case and arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court. He remained held on high bail until May 29, 2014, when his bail was reduced to personal recognizance. He was ordered to appear in court for all scheduled dates.
“By his next hearing date on June 6, 2014, however, the defendant had been taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and removed from the country,” the district attorney’s office said. “As a result of the defendant’s failure to appear in court, a default warrant issued authorizing the defendant’s arrest.”
Prosecutors worked with federal officials at the Department of Justice Office of International Affairs to have authorities in the Dominican Republic place Ortega under arrest.
Ortega was taken into custody in June in the San Pedro de Macoris province of the Dominican Republic on a default warrant.
“His arrest triggered a sequence of events that brought the defendant before the top federal court of the Dominican Republic, and his extradition was ultimately approved by that nation’s president,” according to the district attorney’s office.
FBI agents took Ortega to Boston on Friday and handed him over to Boston police at Logan International Airport.
Ortega, according to Rollins’ office, was previously convicted of child enticement in 2012 for his actions toward another member of the youth league.
“We want to hold serious offenders accountable regardless of their immigration status,” Rollins said. “This means keeping the accused here for their prosecution and incarceration, not allowing a defendant to evade the reach of our laws by being returned to his or her country of origin prior to trial and completion of any sentence. This is especially true in cases of child sexual assault. We owe that much to the survivors as well as the communities we serve.”
Ortega returns to court on Sept. 23.
