Sex offender charged with failing to register

LYNN – A judge ordered $5,000 cash bail for one of Massachusetts State Police’s Most Wanted Sex Offenders, arrested Monday after the defendant allegedly didn’t tell police he had moved.Placido Valdez Jr., 33, with a last known address of 171 Washington St. #2, was arrested on a warrant for failure to register as a Level 2 or 3 sex offender; and a warrant for failing to provide sex-offender information; according to State Police.Valdez was arraigned on the charges in Lynn District Court Tuesday where a plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf.Valdez was convicted in 2000 in Essex Superior Court of rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. In that incident, Valdez and friends were together one night in Salem when Valdez was found to have convinced a 13-year-old girl to enter his empty apartment. Valdez was found to have brought the girl into a bedroom and raped her. He is classified as a high risk, Level 3 sex offender.Valdez was placed in violation with the Sex Offender Registry Board on Jan. 16 when officers learned Valdez had moved from the Washington Street address, according to a report by Lynn Police Officer Roger Tinkham. State Police confirmed the violation Oct. 23, according to the report. Troopers arrested Valdez in Beverly Monday after receiving a tip, according to a State Police press release.Essex Assistant District Attorney Aimee Conway requested Valdez be held on $100,000 cash bail at his arraignment in Lynn District Court.But Defense Attorney Ted Beauparlant and members of the defendant’s family said outside the courtroom that the high bail request – and presence of a television camera – blew the case “totally out of proportion.”Beauparlant said outside the courtroom that Valdez was “a good guy” who hasn’t had any problems with the law in 15 years since the initial incident occurred – when both the defendant and alleged victim were in high school.Maria Valdez, the defendant’s sister, agreed. She said the case had “destroyed” her brother, a former straight-A and popular student at Salem High School and a “big teddy-bear.” She said the sex was consensual, but the child-rape charge – when read aloud in court 15 years after the incident – makes her brother seem like a man who preys on children.”He was dumb for not registering,” Maria Valdez said. “But people make mistakes and now they’re looking at him like a monster. All in all, he’s a good guy.”Africa Cordero said she was proud to be Placido Valdez’s mother and urged reform of a system that can treat sexually active high-school students the same as child predators.”He’s a sweet boy,” Cordero said. “The (current) system needs to create criminals for itself and once they do, they don’t give you another chance.”