Former Queens Deacon Sentenced After Enticing Minors Online: Feds

QUEENS — A former Catholic deacon from Queens was sentenced to prison after enticing three boys to engage in sexual conduct through messaging apps, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Maspeth resident Rogelio Vega, 52, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for luring the boys to him between 2015 and 2021 while serving as a deacon for the Catholic Church, said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace.

Vega chatted with the boys between the ages of 14 and 16 through the messaging app Kik and the dating app Grindr, said Peace.

In the messages, the boys identified themselves as minors, and Vega arranged to meet them several times for sexual encounters in his car or at motels, prosecutors said.

Vega will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison, the U.S. attorney said.

Vega was arrested in Jan. 2021 in a sting operation in which he arranged a meeting with someone he thought was a 14-year-old boy but was actually an undercover detective.