Press Release
Arizona Man, Vittorio Francesco Gonzalez-castillo, Pleads Guilty For Conspiracy To Produce Child Pornography
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana
U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that VITTORIO FRANCESCO GONZALEZ-CASTILLO, age 26, a resident of Tucson, Arizona, pled guilty today in the District of Arizona after being indicted in the Eastern District of Louisiana for Conspiracy to Produce Child Pornography. In addition, GONZALEZ-CASTILLO was previously indicted in the District of Arizona for Distribution, Possession, and Knowing Access of Child Pornography.
GONZALEZ-CASTILLO was permitted to plead guilty in federal court in Arizona to the Louisiana charges pursuant to Rule 20 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. GONZALEZ-CASTILLO also pled guilty to distributing child pornography arising from the Arizona indictment.
As a result of a nationwide child exploitation investigation, special agents with the New Orleans Office of the United States Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) determined that GONZALEZ-CASTILLO was responsible for producing videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children. According to court documents, beginning in 2012, and continuing until January 2013, GONZALEZ-CASTILLO conspired with Jonathan Johnson, the administrator of a multi-national child pornography website, to create and post videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet.
Conspiracy to produce child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of 30 years. Similarly, distribution of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years and a maximum of 20 years. However, GONZALEZ-CASTILLO has agreed to serve a total of 30 years imprisonment pursuant to his plea on both counts. GONZALEZ-CASTILLO will have to register as a sex offender and will be placed on supervised release for a term of not less than 5 years and up to life once released from prison.
Sentencing is scheduled for January 26, 2015 before a U.S. District Court Judge in Tucson, Arizona.
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 (CEOS), 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.
U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Homeland Security Investigations in investigating this matter. Project Safe Childhood Coordinator and Fraud Section Chief, Assistant U. S. Attorney Brian M. Klebba is in charge of this prosecution. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carin C. Duryee of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona handled the plea proceeding in Tucson, Arizona.
Updated November 18, 2014
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