EAST ORANGE / NEWARK, NJ — Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II announced on Saturday, June 26, that two Essex County sex offenders wanted by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and the New Jersey State Parole Board were captured in Pennsylvania by U.S. Marshals and task force officers from the Middle District of Pennsylvania and the District of New Jersey.
Emanuel Cortez and Alberto Colon were found together in Summit Hill, Pa., at the residence of a family with two children.
Cortez, 31, of East Orange, was released from confinement in May 2018 and had been missing from supervision since March 15, 2019. He is currently charged by way of indictment with escape, theft and interfering with a monitoring device.
Cortez is subject to Megan’s Law as a result of an adjudication of sexual assault in 1998, in which the victim was an 8-year-old male.
Alberto Colon, 48, of Newark, was released from confinement in November 2019 and has been missing from supervision since March 7, 2021. He failed to appear in court in March 2021 on an indictment charging him with failure to register as a sex offender and interfering with a monitoring device. Colon’s prior crimes were criminal sexual contact in 1997, endangering the welfare of a child by engaging in sexual conduct in 1994 and sexual assault in 1994. His victims were girls between the ages of 11 and 14.
Cortez and Colon are currently incarcerated at the Carbon County jail in Nesquehoning, Pa., and will be extradited to New Jersey, on release from any Pennsylvania or federal holds. Additional charges in Essex County are forthcoming.
Stephens thanked the U.S. Marshals Service and the New Jersey State Parole Board for continued assistance to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office in the investigation and prosecution of sexual offenders and for their diligent efforts in locating these offenders. He also thanked the task force officers from the Middle District of Pennsylvania and District of New Jersey, along with other law enforcement partners in Pennsylvania who assisted.
Juan Mattos, U.S. marshal for the District of New Jersey, said, “The arrests of these two offenders are a direct result of the outstanding cooperative efforts of the District of New Jersey, NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force and Middle District of Pennsylvania, which demonstrate the effectiveness and impact of collaborating resources to locate and capture fugitives.”
The charges are accusations. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they enter a guilty plea or are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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