North Texas man sentenced to 11 years in federal prison for transporting and shipping child pornography

DALLAS — A north Texas man was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay to 11 years in federal prison on a child pornography conviction, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Plano Police Department investigated this case.

Benito Agramon Castro, 50, from Irving, Texas, pleaded guilty in February 2014 to one count of possessing prepubescent child pornography.  He has been in custody since his arrest in December 2013.

According to documents filed in the case, an officer with the Plano Police Department was working online in an undercover capacity to identify persons distributing child pornography and sexually exploiting children through peer-to-peer file sharing.  The officer identified a specific Internet Protocol address that was sharing child pornography images.  That IP address made 559 files available for download to the undercover officer.  The majority of the file names were indicative of child pornography.

This investigation revealed that the IP address belonged to Castro.  A federal search warrant was executed at Castro’s residence Dec. 11, 2013.  Child pornography was found on his computer as well as on a flash drive and on compact discs.  Castro admitted that some of the images and videos he possessed depicted sadistic and/or violent content and some of the files depicted infants and toddlers.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks, Northern District of Texas, prosecuted this case.

This investigation was conducted under HSI's Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 12,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2014, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI's Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.