In one Texas border school, authorities arrested a teacher’s aide several times recently for the alleged indecency and sexual assault of a child under the age of 14. The purported victim is a relative of the accused.
McAllen police arrested Guadalupe Castillo Jr., 53, only days after U.S. Marshals took the former Pharr-San Juan-Alamo (PSJA) Independent School District teacher’s aide and soccer coach into custody in connection with the alleged sexual contact of a child.
Members of the U.S. Marshals Task Force apprehended Castillo on April 26 for purported sexual misconduct with a PSJA ISD student, according to the Brownsville Herald. Another Rio Grande Valley area newspaper, the Monitor, reported the victim was a family member, a female relative under the age of 14. The criminal complaint filed by McAllen police stated that Castillo allegedly abused the girl for nearly a year. They then arrested Castillo on an even more a more serious related charge.
Previously, on March 28, McAllen officers booked Castillo into the Live Oak County jail on one count of sexual assault of a child, according to the Monitor. Over the course of the arrests, Castillo was first arraigned on a charge of indecency, a second degree felony. Authorities held him on $10,000 bail. Later, McAllen police charged him with the continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14-years-old, a first degree felony, and held him on $100,000 bail. Both times Castillo bonded out of jail, the Monitor reported.
The purported sexual abuse occurred on numerous occasions and in multiple locations in and around the city of San Juan, according to the criminal complaint which stated: “Upon interviewing (the victim), she mentioned that these kinds of incidents with (Castillo) had been occurring since the summer of 2015 and ended when he was caught in George West during spring break of this year.”
PSJA ISD released a statement indicating administrators first learned of the alleged inappropriate conduct on March 21, which purportedly happened over a family outing during Spring Break. The alleged victim told investigators the sexual abuse began in the summer of 2015 when she was 13-years-old, the according to the Monitor. These incidents happened in several locations including a gym, at home and even at Castillo’s parents’ home in McAllen.
“(The victim) stated she and other children from her family were in a waiting room while their parents worked out at the gym. (The victim) stated (Castillo) would go up behind her and press the front of his body to the back side of her body,” the Monitor reported based on the criminal complaint. “The (victim) stated these incidents would happen during parties or family gatherings while everyone was in the backyard.”
One incident allegedly happened in December during a birthday party at the victim’s home. The complaint said Castillo summoned the victim into a room where he was watching TV, pulled down the victim’s shirt, and touched her with his hands.
Castillo, who worked in PSJA ISD for nearly 30 years, was listed as a teacher’s aide at Stephen F. Austin Middle School, although school district spokeswoman Arianna Vazquez-Hernandez said Castillo had not worked at the middle school in over a year. Instead, he served as a teacher’s aide at the district’s Buell Central High School, a facility that is part of the Disciplinary Alternative Education Program (DAEP), before his employment was terminated in late March.
“Effective that same day, his employment with the district was discontinued. While the allegations were not student related or school connected, the district took immediate measures to ensure the safety of our students. Although the police department was already involved, the district reported the allegation to the State Board of Educators Certification at the Texas Education Agency and Child Protective Services,” said school administrators in a statement.
If found guilty, Castillo faces a two to 20 year prison sentence for the lesser charge of indecency and five to 99 years behind bars plus a $10,000 fine for the heavier charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child.
Follow Merrill Hope on Twitter @OutOfTheBoxMom.
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