A Montgomery County prosecutor withdrew a felony flight-to-avoid-apprehension charge against a convicted sex offender whose case dates back to a 2004 sting arrest outside the Abington Library.

Assistant District Attorney Samantha L.R. Cauffman formally dropped the charge against Gerard Boguslaw Zalewski, 42, of Clinton, N.J., during a hearing before Judge Steven T. O'Neill in Norristown. Cauffman told the court that after reviewing Zalewski's challenge to his guilty plea, the district attorney's office determined a statutory exception applied.

"The Commonwealth looked into the defendant's claims and found that with respect to that one particular charge the actions of the original sentencing court did place the defendant into that exception so, that particular count was no longer legally valid in this case," Cauffman said.

Zalewski had pleaded guilty to the flight charge on April 21, 2025, then argued the plea was not "knowing, intelligent or voluntary" because he was unaware of the legal exception. With the charge withdrawn, his defense attorney Cary Hall dropped the motion to withdraw the plea.

The withdrawal does not end Zalewski's legal troubles. He still faces sentencing on a separate felony charge of default in required appearance, which carries up to seven years in prison. Cauffman said she is prepared to move forward with sentencing later in July 2026.

Zalewski is already serving a five-to-20-year state prison term imposed in absentia by a Montgomery County judge in March 2006 after he pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse involving a 13-year-old Bucks County girl and attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse in the Abington sting.

The Abington case began on Aug. 15, 2004, when Zalewski arranged an online meeting with someone he believed was a 12-year-old girl outside the Abington Library on Old York Road. The person was an undercover detective working with the Montgomery County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. 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.

Zalewski pleaded guilty on Nov. 14, 2005, and was permitted to remain free on $100,000 bail to await sentencing. When he failed to appear for his March 29, 2006, sentencing hearing, Judge Joseph A. Smyth sentenced him in absentia and issued a warrant for his arrest.

Authorities placed Zalewski on international watch lists and worked with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office to track him. He was located in England in 2016 after being arrested for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in Bamber Bridge, Lancashire. He pleaded guilty at Preston Crown Court and received a 12-year sentence. Montgomery County began extradition proceedings but could not return him until he completed his British sentence.

Zalewski arrived on U.S. soil in August 2024.

Cauffman said she expects to proceed with sentencing on the remaining default-in-required-appearance charge in July 2026.