A Queens church deacon ought to spend 30 years in federal jail after attractive three teenage boys he met on-line into having intercourse with him, federal prosecutors say.
Rogelio Vega, 52, is about to be sentenced Wednesday in Brooklyn Federal Courtroom, after pleading responsible to 3 counts of attractive a minor to interact in sexual conduct final September.
Vega was a deacon at St. Sebastian Roman Catholic Church in Woodside. He was uncovered as a sexual predator in January 2021 when he was caught in a sting operation making an attempt to persuade a detective he believed was a 14-year-old boy to have oral intercourse with him.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/IX3A5VMYE5HZ5GHOFEQWP2K46I.jpg)
Vega, of Maspeth, communicated with the undercover cop by way of the relationship web site Grindr, exchanged sexually express messages for months, and despatched footage of his genitals.
They arrange a gathering in Queens, and when the officer — who seemed like a younger boy — bought into his automotive, Vega stated he favored “prime and oral,” then grabbed and massaged the within of the officer’s left thigh, in line with the feds.
He pleaded responsible in Queens court docket in October 2021 and was sentenced to 10 years probation and was registered as a intercourse offender.
The day of his responsible plea, although, the feds swooped in and hit him with new prices. His seized cellular phone confirmed proof he communicated with a number of different victims.
“He conversed together with his victims about college, homework and after college jobs whereas concurrently asking them for nude photographs and movies and to fulfill for intercourse,” Assistant U.S. Legal professional Patrick Campbell stated in a sentencing memo filed March 8.
“As his victims completed their college day and after-school jobs or left their houses and households, the defendant organized to interact in intercourse acts with them in close by neighborhoods or lodges.”
The Every day Information Flash
Weekdays
Atone for the day’s prime 5 tales each weekday afternoon.
The feds establish three underage “John Doe” victims, together with a 15-year-old boy he met on Grindr. Investigators discovered different potential victims on his cellphone, however couldn’t establish them or decide whether or not they have been youthful than the age of consent, the memo states.
“He was a hands-on offender who met his victims in his automotive, usually selecting them up close to their houses or their faculties, and took his victims to motels to interact in sexual acts,” Campbell wrote. ”Considered one of his victims described him as ‘pushy’ about wanting to interact in intercourse acts and described how the defendant provided cash and medicines to encourage the sufferer to comply with penetrative intercourse.”
The 15-year-old boy stated Vega tried to strain him into having intercourse by providing him between $50 and $100 and nitrite “poppers,” a chemical psychoactive medicine, the feds stated.
He instructed one other sufferer, who met him for intercourse a number of occasions in his automobile, to not inform anybody as a result of they “may get arrested,” the feds stated.
“For the defendant, this was not a one-time offense with a single sufferer,” Campbell wrote. “The defendant engaged in a sample of looking for out susceptible youngsters whereas residing a double life as a deacon who was purportedly dedicated to the mission of serving to susceptible people.”
Vega’s protection lawyer’s sentencing memo has been sealed by the court docket. His lawyer, James Darrow, declined remark.
Vega stays locked up in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Heart till his sentencing earlier than Decide Eric Komitee.
