HUDSON COUNTY -Nearly two years after he fled the country following a conviction for molesting a 13-year-old boy, a Pentecostal preacher was returned to New Jersey Thursday to face sentencing and additional sexual assault charges.

Gregorio Martinez, 49, was arrested in Honduras in late August, three months after NJ Advance Media reported he had been hiding in northern Nicaragua, not far from where authorities ultimately tracked him down.

Gregorio Martinez is taken into custody in Danli, Honduras, by the Honduran National Police. Martinez, convicted of molesting a 13-year-old boy in New Jersey, is now back on U.S. soil to face punishment. (Courtesy Honduran National Police)

Within days of the arrest, Martinez was brought to a detention facility in Miami. In a statement, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said the fugitive had been returned to New Jersey Thursday afternoon.

Martinez was being held at the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny pending a 10 a.m. hearing in Hudson County Superior Court Friday.

"This investigation involved the teamwork of several law enforcement partners and our fugitive unit detectives and we are appreciative of the tenacious effort and dedication which led to his apprehension," Suarez said. "It has been a long process to return him to Hudson County, but we will now see that justice is done for the victims and their families."

The former pastor of a Pentecostal church in Jersey City, Martinez was convicted in February 2015 of molesting a 13-year-old boy he had come to know through a different church in North Bergen.

He faced up to five years in prison for groping the boy. During the trial, Martinez was hit with additional charges that he sexually assaulted a 19-year-old man. He was later charged with sex crimes against two other men, also 19.

A charismatic figure known to speak in tongues, Martinez befriended all of the alleged victims through Pentecostal churches in Hudson County.

Three weeks after his conviction, Martinez, who had been permitted to remain free on bail, failed to show for a court hearing.

Earlier this year, NJ Advance Media traced him to Esteli, Nicaragua, where he had been living in a church affiliated with the Assemblies of God, the world's largest Pentecostal denomination. Two reporters traveled to the city but missed Martinez by weeks. Those he left behind said they didn't know where he had gone.

Suarez, the Hudson County Prosecutor, has previously said detectives followed a money trail to track Martinez. He was arrested in Danli, Honduras, about 85 miles north of Esteli, Nicaragua.

The prosecutor credited the Hudson County assistant prosecutor who handled the case, along with county detectives, federal agencies and Honduran authorities.

Mark Mueller may be reached at mmueller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarkJMueller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.