A man was convicted of child sex crimes this week in Douglas County, in a case that until recent months had been frozen for five years with a warrant out for the suspect’s arrest.

Pedro I. Martinez, 44, pleaded no contest Thursday to one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and one count of attempted aggravated indecent liberties with a child, both felonies, according to Jill Spurling, trial assistant for the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office.

Martinez stipulated to, or acknowledged, facts outlined in a probable cause affidavit for his arrest, and the court found him guilty based on that, Spurling said.

Martinez was first charged in the case and had a warrant issued for his arrest in March 2012, according to court documents.

His initial charges comprised six counts of felony sex crimes — including one count of rape — against two victims who were between 14 and 16 years old. According to the charges, the crimes allegedly occurred from 2011 to 2012.

Pedro I. Martinez

Martinez wasn’t arrested on those charges until April of this year. He was in the Sedgwick County jail before being transferred to Douglas County, according to jail records.

On Thursday, a preliminary hearing had been scheduled for Martinez. However — with interpreters translating proceedings into Spanish for him — he entered his plea and remaining charges were dismissed.

Before accepting Martinez’s plea, Judge James McCabria insisted that interpreters verbally translate verbatim the plea advisory documents for him in the courtroom.

“I just want to make sure you’ve had the opportunity to have every word of this explained to you,” McCabria told him. “It’s your decision on how you want to proceed.”

Martinez is in the country illegally, his appointed defense attorney, Michael Clarke, said.

Clarke said he had explained to his client that if the court accepted his plea and he was convicted, he would be subject to deportation, which would affect his ability to ever return to the United States legally.

Last month the Journal-World requested the probable cause affidavit for Martinez’s arrest, but the court denied the request. McCabria wrote that releasing the document before the preliminary hearing “would jeopardize the mental or emotional safety or well-being of a victim and interfere with prospective prosecution.”

Sentencing for Martinez is scheduled for Nov. 3.