NYC kindergarten owner accused of sexually exploiting 11-year-old and distributing child pornography

Federal and local authorities announced Friday that a Bronx man who ran a day care center from his residence is charged with the sexual exploitation of a child and the production, receipt, distribution and possession of child pornography.

Silfredo Castillo Martínez, 32, is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a child, carrying a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment; one charge of obtaining and distributing child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison; and one count of possession of child pornography, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams, FBI, NYPD and US Secret Service.

Information about Martinez’s lawyer did not immediately become known.

The allegations stem from an investigation that allegedly revealed that from July 2015 or until about May 3, 2022, Martinez operated a licensed day care center at his Bronx residence, and from May 2018 until about July of that year. , Martinez allegedly lured an 11-year-old kindergarten attendant into sexually explicit behavior and recorded it on his cell phone and camera.

Subsequently, on May 3, 2022, law enforcement issued a search warrant at Martinez’s home, seizing electronic devices containing several images and videos of child pornography depicting the 11-year-old victim and nearly 10,000 other child pornographic images.

“Silfredo Castillo Martínez’s main duty as an educator was to look after the neighborhood children. Instead, he allegedly abused that role to sexually exploit one of the minors under his care,” Williams said. “While he was supposed to be protecting children, he also allegedly received, distributed and possessed tens of thousands of child pornography images. The alleged conduct of Castillo Martinez was in bad faith and we will continue to work tirelessly to protect the children of our community.”

Frini, meanwhile, shared similar sentiments.

“The allegations made today relate to a reprehensible violation and exploitation by a man who was supposed to provide exceptional reliability and protection to the most vulnerable,” Frini said. brought this man into our justice system to face these charges. I am grateful to them for their continued dedication and ongoing work as part of our shared investigative priority to protect our children from harm.”

In a statement, Sewell said in part: “This investigation highlights the most important function of law enforcement in our society: protecting vulnerable individuals from predatory criminals who seek to abuse, exploit and harm them.”

Driscoll is urging those who may have more information on the case to contact authorities.

“The crimes Castillo Martínez is charged with today are almost unimaginable… We encourage anyone who believes they may have information relevant to this investigation to contact us at 1-800-CALL-FBI or via the web site tip.fbi.gov.