McALLEN, Texas – A 31-year-old man has been sent to prison for his role in coercing and enticing a minor using Snapchat, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

Santos Emilio Marcial-Castro, a Mexican citizen who resided in Edinburg, pleaded guilty to coercion and enticement of a minor on Aug. 29, 2023.

U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton has ordered Marcial-Castro to serve 120 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. During this time, he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. He will also be ordered to register as a sex offender and face removal proceedings following his sentence.

Noting that Marcial-Castro is not a U.S. citizen, the court emphasized that he still needed to follow all the conditions imposed on him and not re-enter the country illegally.

According to the investigation, law enforcement discovered numerous conversations between Marcial-Castro and a 15-year-old minor in April 2023. The probe revealed that he had been communicating with the victim from May 2021 to April 2023 via Snapchat, sending her sexually explicit messages and enticing her to send nude images on multiple occasions.

The court found that Marcial-Castro was aware the victim was a minor and even asked her about her upcoming 14th birthday during their initial conversations.

Santos Emilio Marcial-Castro will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The investigation was conducted by the Homeland Security Investigations – Rio Grande Valley Child Exploitation Investigations Task Force, with Assistant U.S. Attorney M. Alexis Garcia prosecuting the case as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative launched by the DOJ in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

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