Illinois Man Traveled to CT, Engaged in ‘Illicit Sexual Activity’ with Minor: Feds

CLINTON, CT — An Illinois man faces multiple federal child exploitation charges after authorities say he used an online app to entice a 15-year-old female resident to create videos of herself engaged in sexually explicit conduct and he later traveled to Connecticut and engaged in illicit sexual activity with the victim.

A federal grand jury in Bridgeport returned an indictment Thursday charging Arturo Castro, 52, of Wilmette, Illinois, with multiple child exploitation offenses, U.S. States Attorney Deirdre M. Daly, Matthew J. Etre, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Boston, and Clinton Police Chief Vincent DeMaio announced in a press release.

Castro is accused of beginning to communicate with a 15-year-old female in Connecticut in December 2013 through the online app “Chess with Friends,” according to court documents and statements.

“Using the app’s chat option, Castro asked the minor victim to send him naked photographs of herself, and subsequently enticed the minor victim to create videos depicting the minor victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct and send those videos to Castro,” Daly wrote in the press release. “In March 2014, Castro traveled from Illinois to Connecticut and engaged in illicit sexual activity with the minor victim.”

The indictment charges Castro with one count of coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life; one count of travel in interstate commerce with intent to engage in illicit sexual activity with a minor, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years; and one count of receipt of child pornography, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

Castro was arrested on Dec. 13 in Wilmette, Illinois. In a detention hearing earlier Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, in Chicago, Castro was detained pending trial and ordered removed to the District of Connecticut, according to Daly.

This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.

To report cases of child exploitation, visit www.cybertipline.com.

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