The case of the former chief of staff to the mayor of Lawrence accused of child pornography possession has been kicked up to federal court.
Jhovanny Martes-Rosario, 48, pleaded not guilty to charges that he possessed dozens of images of child pornography on his iPad — a discovery for which he was fired — when he appeared for arraignment in Lawrence District Court in February.
On Friday, the U.S. District Court in Boston unsealed a federal grand jury indictment returned the day before charging him with one count of transportation of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
Both charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison followed by at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
According to official Lawrence municipal election results in 2021, Martes-Rosario finished a distant second in the race for city councilor for District E, finishing with 807 votes to winner Stephany Infante’s 1,416. According to a 2021 article in the Spanish-language outlet El Mundo Boston, Martes-Rosario was once a public school teacher in Lawrence schools.
Martes-Rosario waived a reading of his indictment during an initial appearance in federal court in Boston and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Magistrate Judge M. Page Kelley released Martes-Rosario under standard conditions — including that he abide by laws and submit to a DNA sample if authorized — as well as a curfew of between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m., that the defendant submit to GPS location monitoring and to pay for the GPS monitoring.
Martes-Rosario is also ordered not to have any contact with minors, to not hang out in any areas where children are likely to gather, to not possess any computer or other device capable of connecting to the internet and to participate in a mental health treatment program. He will be allowed contact with his son only as permitted by the Department of Children and Families.
The details included in the indictment are quite limited. The defendant is accused of conducting the elements for the charge of transportation of child pornography from Oct. 3, 2022, to Nov. 14, 2022. The possession charge only lists the date police say he was found with child pornography on his iPad — Jan. 6, 2023 — that led to his arrest and being fired from his job.
“Mayor Brian A. DePena made the decision to immediately dismiss Mr. Jhovanny Martes … after receiving official information of his arrest due to causes that remain under investigation at this time,” the mayor’s communications director Nestor Castillo said in a statement on Jan. 7.