Man Sentenced To 150 Months in Prison for Child Pornography and Drug Offenses

     TUCSON, Ariz. – Yesterday, Tule Israel Alonso-Castaneda, 27, of Douglas, Ariz., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David C. Bury to serve 150 months in prison.  Alonso-Castaneda had pleaded guilty to four counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Alonso-Castaneda’s term of imprisonment will be followed by lifetime supervised release, with stringent sex offender conditions, including the condition that he register as a sex offender.

      On Dec. 8, 2010, Alonso-Castaneda was arrested at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint when the vehicle he was driving was found to contain 87 pounds of marijuana.  In addition to finding the load of drugs he intended to traffic, Border Patrol agents also found cell phone containing images of child pornography.  After the defendant was placed on pretrial release for the drug offense on Dec. 13, 2010, he absconded to Mexico until he was re-arrested on June 13, 2014. On Nov. 30, 2011, Alonso-Castaneda was indicted for child pornography offenses by a Federal Grand Jury after the investigation revealed that he was actively trading images of child sexual abuse with a group of other like-minded individuals.  

      This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by United States 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 exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

      The investigation in this case was conducted by the Nogales Border Patrol and Department of Homeland Security - Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Nogales, Arizona.  The prosecutions were handled by Carin C. DuryJe and Gordon E. Davenport, III, District of Arizona, Tucson.

CASE NUMBER:           CR-11-00050-DCB

                                         CR 11-04067-DCB        

RELEASE NUMBER:   2016-032_Alonso-Castaneda

# # #

For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/

Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZ for the latest news.