Aspen police arrest Georgia sex offender

ASPEN Aspen police on Wednesday arrested a convicted sex offender who had skipped out on his probation in Georgia.Jose Martinez-Moreno, 26, has been living and working in Aspen for the past two years, according to police. Police might never have found him without his arrest for drunken driving in Aspen on March 23. At the time of his arrest, he gave his name as Raul Gutierrez, but authorities took fingerprints. Results had not been returned on a background check through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation by the time of his release from the Pitkin County Jail. The results showed “Gutierrez” was actually Jose Martinez-Moreno, a sex offender convicted of statutory rape and sex assault in Gwinnett County, Ga. Aspen Police Detective Chris Womack said timing on results from CBI can sometimes vary depending on how many agencies are requesting information. Sometimes it takes 15 minutes, and sometimes it can be 24 hours, he said. As a sex offender, Martinez-Moreno must register where he is living under both Colorado and Georgia laws. However, many offenders are delinquent in registering, which can be a felony offense. As of March 2005, there were 8,344 registered offenders in Colorado, and a search on the CBI website showed 737 convicted sex offenders who had failed to register. There are only two sex offenders registered in Pitkin County. Joel Stonington’s e-mail address is jstonington@aspentimes.com