A 31-year-old Edinburg resident has been sent to prison for using Snapchat to coerce a minor, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
Santos Emilio Marcial-Castro, a Mexican citizen, pleaded guilty on August 29, 2023. U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton has now ordered Marcial-Castro to serve 120 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
During the investigation, law enforcement discovered numerous conversations between Marcial-Castro and a 15-year-old minor. The probe revealed that Marcial-Castro had been communicating with the victim from May 2021 to April 2023 via Snapchat, sending sexually explicit messages and enticing the minor to send nude images on multiple occasions.
The court noted that despite the likelihood of Marcial-Castro’s removal from the country, he still needed to follow all the conditions imposed on him and not re-enter the country illegally. Marcial-Castro will also be required to register as a sex offender and comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet.
Assistant U.S. Attorney M. Alexis Garcia prosecuted the case, which was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Marcial-Castro will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future. The Homeland Security Investigations – Rio Grande Valley Child Exploitation Investigations Task Force conducted the investigation.
The case highlights the ongoing threat of online predators and the importance of continued efforts to protect vulnerable children from exploitation. As part of Project Safe Childhood, the Department of Justice continues to marshal federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children.
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Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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