Posted on: Friday, March 30, 2001

Repeat molester gets 10 years for attempted assault

By William Cole
Advertiser Courts Writer

A former teacher and repeat child sex offender was sentenced to 10 years in prison yesterday for attempted second-degree sexual assault of a 12-year-old boy.

Gilbert Martines, 53, of McCully had begun to "groom" the boy for a sexual relationship, authorities said, but his advances were rebuffed when he attempted to engage in a sex act with the boy in April 1999 after inviting him into his apartment to play video games.

As part of a plea agreement entered in January, Martines also received a concurrent five-year sentence for second-degree promotion of child abuse for having computer images of minors engaged in sexual conduct.

City Deputy Prosecutor Rom Trader said Martines is "probably about the worst type of sexual predator we come across."

Valerie Vargo, Martines' court-appointed attorney, said Martines wants to enter a treatment program for sex offenders. In a brief statement, Martines apologized to his victims, saying: "I take full responsibility and blame."

Circuit Judge Reynaldo Graulty said that if it were within his power, Martines would be locked up for the rest of his life.

Trader said he will ask that Martines serve the full term when he appears before the parole board. Martines has been in jail for two years.

The holder of two master's degrees, including one in education with a specialty in anthropology, Martines admitted, in connection with the 1999 case, to having sex with boys while on probation for past child sex offenses, Trader said.

In 1982 Martines was accused of molesting five boys. Two years later, he was convicted of first-degree sex abuse involving two of the boys, ages 12 and 15, and was placed on probation for five years.

"He's been doing this for a long time," Trader said. "Young boys ... are his preferred sexual partners," Trader said.

The deputy prosecutor said the plea agreement was entered into so the latest victim, who still is traumatized by Martines' abuse, could be spared the rigors of a trial.

Martines taught part-time at St. Louis School in January and February of 1982, Vargo said. In 1989 he was a teacher at Fairhaven School, and from 1992 to 1996 he was an adjunct history professor at Chaminade University, according to Vargo. None of his victims was a student of his, authorities said.