Castillo’s work computer contained 4,000 images of child pornography
A man who received child pornography was sentenced today to more than 15 years in federal prison.
Ricardo Castillo, Jr., age 64, from Sioux Falls, SD received the prison terms after an Aug. 31, 2021, guilty plea to receipt of child pornography. In a plea agreement, Castillo admitted that he utilized his work computer to receive and possess child pornography between July 2017 and January 2019. Castillo committed this offense after having a 1991 conviction for Lascivious Acts with a Child in the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County. A forensic examination of Castillo’s work computer and a hard drive revealed at least 4,000 images of child pornography, which Castillo attempted to delete when confronted by law enforcement.
Castillo was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand. Castillo was sentenced to 183 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $9,000 in restitution to victims. He must also serve a 5-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Mikala Purdy-Steenholdt and Ron Timmons, and was investigated by the Sioux City, Iowa Police Department.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources."
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 20-CR-4092.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
