L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services employee charged with distributing child pornography
An employee of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services has been charged with distributing child pornography online, the district attorney’s office announced Tuesday.
Carlos Enrique Castillo, 54, faces five felony counts of distributing child pornography and one felony count of possession of over 600 images of child or youth pornography, according to the criminal complaint. Castillo pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.
Castillo is accused of sending files containing child pornography via the internet with his personal computer during a six-month period from October 2017 through March 2018, according to the district attorney’s office. Castillo distributed the images via Skype, according to the complaint.
Videos and images of child pornography were also discovered in June on Castillo’s computer, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Angela Brunson of the Cyber Crime Division.
KTLA-TV Channel 5 reported last month that Castillo worked as an adoption manager with the department.
“It’s an upsetting charge and we’re cooperating fully with the law enforcement investigation,” said the department’s deputy director, Brandon Nichols.
In a statement Tuesday evening, DCFS called the allegations disturbing.
“This alleged behavior violates the public trust and goes against everything we stand for,” the department said. “We stand ready to assist our partners in law enforcement in their investigation.”
If he is convicted as charged, Castillo would face a maximum possible sentence of eight years and four months in state prison.
Castillo, who was arrested in June, is out on $40,000 bond, with orders that he has no internet access and no unsupervised contact with minors, according to the district attorney’s office. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 16.
Los Angeles Times staff writer Nina Agrawal contributed to this report.
Twitter: @Brittny_Mejia
UPDATES:
7:50 p.m.: This article was updated with a statement from DCFS.
11:30 a.m.: This article was updated with a comment from the deputy director of Department of Children and Family Services.
This article was originally published at 10:55 a.m.
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