Southern Arizona man sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for child pornography and drug offenses

TUCSON, Ariz. – A southern Arizona man has been sentenced to 150 months in prison on child pornography and drug offenses, following an investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol agents in Nogales.

Tule Israel Alonso-Castañeda, 27, of Douglas, was sentenced Monday and ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release with stringent sex offender conditions, including the condition that he register as a sex offender. Alonso-Castañeda pleaded guilty Aug. 28, 2015, to four counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

Alonso-Castañeda was arrested Dec. 8, 2010, at a Border Patrol checkpoint after Border Patrol agents discovered 87 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle. In addition to finding the cache of marijuana, the agents also found his cell phone, which contained images of child pornography. After the defendant was placed on pretrial release for the drug offense in December 2010, he absconded to Mexico until he was re-arrested in June 2014.

Alonso-Castañeda was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2011 for child pornography offenses after HSI’s investigation revealed he was actively trading images of child sexual abuse with a group of other like-minded individuals. The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carin C. Durye and Gordon E. Davenport, III, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

This case is the result of HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators, and the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Launched in May 2006, 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 to identify and rescue victims.

Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 14,000 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 2015, nearly 2,400 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.

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. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196.

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.