Church Volunteer Sentenced for Possessing Child Pornography

LAREDO, Texas – A former volunteer for New Visions Community Church has been ordered to federal prison following his conviction of possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson along with Mark Dawson, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in San Antonio and Webb County Sherriff Martin Cuellar. Fidel Perales-Castillo, 44, a Mexican citizen residing in Laredo, pleaded guilty April 23, 2015.

Today, U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo took into consideration the fact that he possessed child pornography depicting children younger than 12 years of age and handed Perales-Castillo a 121-month sentence. Additional information was also presented today, including descriptions of the types and amount of images possessed and a victim impact statement. In handing down the sentence, Judge Marmolejo stated that Perales-Castillo should apologize first and foremost to the victims in this case and commented on the continued victimization they suffer when people such as Perales-Castillo view and share child pornography. Perales-Castillo was further ordered to pay $5,431.01 in restitution to a known victim and will be subject to 20 years of supervised release, which includes the provision of registering as a sex offender. Perales-Castillo, a Mexican citizen, is also subject to deportation following his prison term.

Perales-Castillo was encountered by an undercover investigator in a peer-to-peer file sharing network where he had 10 files of suspected child pornography available for download. Five of those videos were successfully downloaded and found to contain child pornography. Some of the images and videos involved children under the age of 12. 

A search warrant was executed on Perales-Castillo’s home, at which time they seized several computers and storage devices. Perales-Castillo confessed that he had been downloading and viewing child pornography Via the internet. He further admitted that he had a particular interest in seven-year-old girls, but denied ever physically harming a child.

Perales-Castillo will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The arrest of Perales-Castillo was a result of Operation Child Guardian, which was launched by the Webb County Sheriff’s Office in 2009. The success of these investigations have put dozens of suspected child predators behind bars.

This case, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Ellison, 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."