Defendant Had Child Pornography on Thumb Drives in His Pocket When He Was Arrested for Possessing Drug Paraphernalia

FORT WORTH, Texas — Domingo Castellon, 56, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge John McBryde to 235 months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in March 2012 to one count of possessing visual depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. Castellon has been in custody since his arrest in late January 2012.

On January 23, 2012, officers with the Fort Worth Police Department (FWPD) arrested Castellon for possession of drug paraphernalia. While at the jail, officers retrieved three thumb drives from the front pocket of his pants. Castellon admitted that the thumb drives, which contained approximately 2,000 images and movies of child pornography, were his. The desktop computer Castellon used to acquire the child pornography was seized during a search of his bedroom at his residence in Fort Worth.

This matter 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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better 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."

The investigation was conducted by the FWPD and U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aisha Saleem prosecuted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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