Kansas man sentenced to prison for receiving child pornography

KANSAS CITY, KAN. - A Kansas man was sentenced to 110 months in prison for receiving child sexual abuse material (CSAM) images sent to him over the Internet from a man later convicted of child sexual abuse crimes.

According to court documents, a federal judge found Frank Castro, 50, of Kansas City, Kansas, guilty of one count of receipt of child pornography after a bench trial.

In September 2020, Castro exchanged social media messages with Antonio Galicia in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Galicia offered to send Castro a video himself sexually abusing a young child. Galicia sent Castro a video file containing CSAM which Castro viewed.

While the Milwaukee Police Department was investigating Galicia for a series of child sex crimes, officers found evidence of the video transmission to Castro and passed the information on to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

As part of his sentence, a federal judge ordered Castro pay a $10,000 special assessment to a government fund designated to assist victims of CSAM because of the harm done to them.

"Predators who molest children inflict further trauma when they capture then share images of the abuse over the Internet, thereby making victims feel repeatedly exploited," said U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser. "The Defined Monetary Assistance Victims Reserve helps victims trying to rebuild their lives, and the money comes from financial penalties imposed by the courts on convicted sex offenders."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Audrey McCormick and Scott Rask prosecuted the case.

Project Safe ChildhoodThis case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

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