Undocumented Ecuadoran charged with over 20 child sex crimes in Mass.
LAWRENCE, Mass. (WWLP) – An illegally present Ecuadoran man was arrested in Lawrence at the beginning of April by members of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for over 20 charges of child sexual assault and rape.
ICE Boston said that they worked alongside federal partners from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to arrest 64-year-old Gilberto Avila-Jara.
Charging documents stated that Avila illegally entered the U.S. on February 10, 1996, near San Ysidro, California. He was caught by Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officials on March 2, 1996, at the Los Angeles International Airport. On March 11 during the same year, an immigration judge ordered that Avila be sent back to Ecuador.
On July 2, 1996, the INS returned Avila from the U.S. to Ecuador. He illegally reentered the U.S. on an unknown date and from an unknown location.
Avila was arraigned in Lawrence District Court on December 18, 2020, for over 20 offenses, including indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, rape of a child with force, and aggravated statutory rape of a child. Later that day, ICE Boston lodged an immigration detainer with the Lawrence Police Department against Avila, but the Lawrence District Court refused to honor the detainer. Avila was released from custody on bail on March 17, 2021.
On April 22, 2021, Avila was arraigned in Essex County Superior Court for six counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, eight counts of rape of a child with force, and eight counts of aggravated statutory rape of a child.
On April 1, 2025, ICE Boston, DEA New England agents, and ATF Boston arrested Avila in Lawrence.
“There are no appropriate words to describe the amount of damage Gilberto Avila-Jara has allegedly done to our Massachusetts community,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “Children are the most precious and most vulnerable members of our communities, and we will do everything in our power to protect them from illegal sex offenders. ICE Boston remains committed to prioritizing public safety by arresting and removing alien sexual predators from New England.”
Were there any child sex assaults between March 2021 and April 2025? If so, the Lawrence Chief of Police ought to be charged as an accomplice. His hands would certainly be bloody, and he will not do well when he stands before Jesus Christ.
NH man convicted of sex trafficking boy in Louisiana; facing charges in New Hampshire
Facing 14 pending similar charges for six separate victims in New Hampshire, prosecutors
A New Hampshire man could be sentenced 25 to 99 years after being convicted on multiple charges, including sexual exploitation of a child in Louisiana.
Prosecutors said Hart met the 10-year-old boy in 2020 while playing Xbox and the communication continued and moved to Snapchat, where Hart sent sexually explicit images of himself.
Hart traveled to Louisiana regularly to meet the boy, staying for extended visits and sexually abused the child. Much of it took place in Hart's 18-wheeler, prosecutors said. Between 2020 and 2022, Hart gave the boy money, a cell phone and gaming systems and used those gifts as leverage to coerce the child into further sexual acts, prosecutors said.
Hart was present for jury selection but did not return for the rest of the trial, prosecutors said.
He is facing 14 pending similar charges for six separate victims in New Hampshire, prosecutors said. Carroll County Attorney Keith Blair told News 9 that the cases are still active and being prosecuted and that Hart has active warrants for charges.
Blair said they were aware Hart was facing similar charges in Louisiana and once the charges and sentencing are finalized, they can begin the process of determining the best path forward with the charges in the Granite State.
Detectives with the Washington Parish Sheriff's Office initiated the investigation in November 2022, the sheriff's office said. In a January 2024 release, the sheriff's office said he had an existing case involving multiple juveniles in Carroll County and despite being aware of the pending charges in Louisiana, he did not surrender to law enforcement.
Richard Mello is a safety consultant and retired Chief of the Lebanon Police Department, and he says cases involving technology at this level can be challenge for investigators.
"They have to be as adept (in most cases more adept) at using the internet and these resources than the offender." he said.
Mello also believes that investigators used the data tracking from both Xbox and Snapchat to track Hart down.
Hart was apprehended in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in April 2024. He contested extradition and after a competency hearing in January 2024, was found competent by a New Mexico medical examiner and judge and taken to the jail in Louisiana.
Hart will be sentenced on May 16, where he faces the possibility of 25 to 99 years.
Texas Senators Prioritize Safeguarding Students From Sexual Predators In Schools
(Texas Scorecard) – Senators heard powerful testimony this week on two key public education reforms to safeguard students from predatory school employees.
Both measures address how administrators report alleged sex crimes committed against students by teachers and other school employees—what the state calls “educator misconduct” or “inappropriate relationships.”
On Tuesday, the Senate Education K-16 Committee heard from parent and student advocates, educators, abuse victims, and law enforcement on the measures.
Senate Bill 1224 by State Sen. Kevin Sparks (R–Midland) requires superintendents to report allegations of a school employee’s “romantic” or sexual contact with a student directly to outside local law enforcement within 48 hours.
Superintendents who fail to report would face a state jail felony and an administrative penalty of up to $10,000.
Current education law requires superintendents to report employees’ sexual misconduct to the Texas Education Agency within seven business days, while family law requires suspected abuse to be reported to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services within 48 hours.
Superintendents are also required to conduct their own investigations into alleged misconduct, but they are not required to report to outside law enforcement and often utilize internal school district police.
However, the Texas Education Code requires school district police to report to the superintendent.
Sparks said this creates a conflict of interest, which can—and does—lead to misconduct being swept under the rug to protect the reputation of the district.
He said some school officials who should be disciplined for sexual misconduct with students are allowed to resign rather than face punishment. They are then hired at a different school and abuse more children—an illegal process called “passing the trash.”
Sparks told committee members that an estimated 10 percent of K-12 students will experience sexual abuse by a school employee by the time they graduate from high school.
According to an analysis by Texas Education 911 titled State-Sponsored Child Abuse, the TEA received more than 2,400 reports of educators sexually abusing or having “improper relationships” with students from September 2021 to July 2024.
While it sounds innocuous, improper relationship between educator and student is a second-degree felony punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison. The offense includes sexual contact or sexually explicit communication, regardless of the student’s age.
Public Testimony on Senate Bill 1224
“Our schools are facing a crisis with educator misconduct and inadequate reporting practices that allow predators to evade justice,” Texas mom and former teacher Christin Bentley told the committee during public testimony.
She said SB 1224 is endorsed by the Republican Party of Texas, “although I do believe this is a bipartisan bill.” Bentley leads the RPT legislative efforts to Stop Sexualizing Texas Kids.
“The statistics are alarming,” she said. “In 2015, the TEA opened 188 investigations into improper educator-student relationships. By 2022, that number surged to 429, representing a 128 percent increase.”
She testified that the numbers have continued to climb and cited specific cases, including:
“The current reporting system allows offenders to slip through the cracks,” added Bentley. She said SB 1224 would close loopholes, eliminate conflicts of interest, and create more safeguards to protect students.
Bentley agreed with Democrat State Sen. Royce West of Dallas that the reporting requirements should also apply to private schools, as the state has a compelling interest in protecting all children.
“We have a lot of passing the trash between public and private schools,” she added.
“Kids in schools are not being treated as citizens who are experiencing crimes. I sure wasn’t,” said Callie McDonald, who was sexually groomed and abused by a coach when she was a child—under the noses of adult school employees.
“I want you to understand that everyone turns their head, not necessarily because they have intentions that are poor, but because they don’t know what to do. We don’t have a reporting structure for grooming,” she told the committee.
McDonald testified that allowing administrators 48 hours before reporting sex crime allegations gives them time to consult lawyers and intimidate victims.
“Immediate reporting is what I’d like to move toward. As soon as you know there’s a crime, you need to report a crime,” she said.
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