The former chief of staff to the mayor of Lawrence pleaded guilty to transporting and possessing child sexual abuse material last week in federal court in Boston, authorities said.
On Dec. 6, Jhovanny Martes-Rosario, 50, pleaded guilty to one count of transporting child sexual abuse material and one count of possession of child sex abuse material, said the North American Joshua S. Levy.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 10, 2025, Levy said. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2023. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.
Martes-Rosario was identified by police as someone who was the likely user of the Yahoo and Apple accounts in February 2023, which had child sexual abuse material, Levy said.
“A search was conducted at Martes-Rosario’s residence and an iPad device containing child pornography files was seized,” Levy said.
He said he owned the email addresses. She searched for and downloaded the child sexual abuse material to her iPad and then sent it to her email address for storage, Levy said. He has been looking for this material and storing it for 16 years, he added.