Abington Township Police Department Photo by James Short.
A convicted sex offender who was captured after spending the last 20 years in and out of the prison system has turned down a plea deal, according to reports.
Gerald Boguslaw Zalewski, 41, formerly of Clinton, N.J., wants a trial on new charges he attempted to avoid capture, according to documents.
“Mr. Zalewski is aware of the offer and he’s rejecting the offer,” defense lawyer George Griffith Jr. informed Judge Steven T. O’Neill during the brief hearing.
The charges of flight to avoid punishment and default in required appearance carry a possible maximum sentence of 14 years in prison upon conviction.
Zalewski originally was arrested on Aug. 15, 2004, after he used the internet to arrange a meeting outside the Abington Library on Old York Road with an undercover detective who he believed was a 12-year-old girl. When detectives searched Zalewski’s car, they found condoms, an ice pick and a digital camera, according to the criminal complaint filed by Abington detectives.
After skipping a 2006 sentencing hearing in Montgomery County, Zalewski ended up in England, but was extradited from England and arrived in the U.S. in August 2024 after serving a sentence in a British prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl there.
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