A Salvadoran man previously convicted for sexually assaulting a child was sentenced to 18 months in prison Monday for failing to register as a sex offender after unlawfully returning to the United States and traveling to New Jersey. The sentencing follows a multiagency investigation, which included U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Samuel De Jesus Corvera-Mata, 43, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle in Camden federal court to an information charging him with one count of illegal re-entry subsequent to conviction for an aggravated felony and one count of failing to register as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

SORNA requires all sex offenders to register and keep that registration current in each jurisdiction where the sex offender resides.

Corvera-Mata admitted that he illegally re-entered the United States after being deported to El Salvador following a 10-year prison sentence in California for committing multiple lewd and lascivious acts upon a seven-year-old child. As a result of his prior offenses, Corvera-Mata was required to register as a sex offender if he ever returned to the United States. Corvera-Mata later illegally re-entered the country and travelled to New Jersey, where he was located and arrested in October 2017.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Simandle sentenced Corvera-Mata to 5 years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito credited deportation officers of ERO under Newark Field Office Director John Tsoukaris, and the U.S. Marshals Service, under the direction of U.S. Marshal Juan Mattos in Newark, with the investigation leading to the sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gabriel J. Vidoni of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Camden.