Maywood Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Attempted Enticement of a Minor

BENTON, Ill. – Antonio Ferto-Castorena, 31, of Maywood, Illinois, was sentenced on Thursday, April 
21, 2022, to a total of 168 months in prison after pleading guilty for arranging to have sex with a 
minor online and traveling to pick her up in the Southern District of Illinois. Antonio 
Ferto-Castorena, a citizen of Mexico, was also ordered to pay restitution and serve 5 years of 
supervised release.

According to court documents and evidence presented in court, Ferto-Castorena used an online chat 
application to meet a teenage girl. Ferto-Castorena engaged in sexual conversations with the minor. 
On February 5, 2020, Ferto-Castorena drove from Maywood, Illinois, to Teutopolis, Illinois, to pick 
up the minor from school. School employees notified the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office who 
apprehended Ferto-Castorena prior meeting the minor.

As part of his plea agreement, Ferto-Castorena admitted to producing child pornography of a minor 
who was located in California, using an online chat application. The images were located on 
Ferto-Castorena’s cell phone.

The investigation was conducted by the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office, Effingham Police 
Department, and the FBI Springfield and Chicago Field Offices.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ali Burns.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 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
more  information  about  internet  safety  education,  please  visit
www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”