WASHINGTON
Jorge Castillo, 37, and his girlfriend, Katherine Briones, 43, both of Inglewood, Calif., were sentenced Thursday to prison terms of 25 years and 15 years, respectively, after earlier pleading guilty in the District of Columbia to child exploitation charges, according to authorities.
Both defendants pled guilty on Dec. 18, 2017, to charges of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal activity and production of child pornography.
Following their prison terms, the defendants must register as sex offenders for a period of 25 years.
Castillo also will be placed on supervised release for the rest of his life, and Briones will be placed on supervised release for seven years. Briones also was ordered to pay $5,000 to a fund for the victims of sex trafficking.
Castillo is facing pending state charges in New Jersey of first-degree conspiracy to commit child trafficking and second-degree distribution of child pornography.
According to the government’s evidence, on March 13, 2017, Castillo contacted an undercover officer with the FBI’s Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, through a social network site.
Castillo and Briones then continued communications with this undercover officer over the next few weeks, attempting to set up a meeting with an underage girl.
During the course of the communications, Castillo also referenced a person on the East Coast who he believed had a similar interest in children; unbeknownst to Castillo, that person was an undercover detective with the New Jersey State Police, who claimed to have access to an underage girl.
Castillo and Briones arranged to have the two girls transported to Los Angeles for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with them.
The defendants planned to provide a hotel room for the purported girls and the two undercover officers, according to officials.
On the day this meeting was to take place – April 4, 2017 – both defendants were arrested at the Los Angeles International Airport. In a search of their cellular telephones, authorities found images of child pornography..
This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative and investigated by the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, which includes members of the FBI’s Washington Field Office and MPD.
In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visitwww.projectsafechildhood.gov.