Palm Beach Gardens man gets prison term for child porn
Palm Beach Gardens man Dwight Castaldi started using social media to groom victims into sending him child pornography so long ago, he met two of them on MySpace.
Castaldi’s predatory behavior goes back not just long ago, but far away, to the Southern California city of Huntington Beach. It ended Tuesday with his sentencing to 25 years in federal prison on two counts of production of child pornography, two counts of child porn possession, one count each of receiving child pornography, enticement of a minor and activities constituting child pornography.
By federal prison guidelines, Castaldi, 47, will serve at least 21 years and three months before being eligible for release. Upon release, he’ll be under supervision for life. His electronics contained hundreds of child pornography pictures and photos, aside from the girls he fooled.
Castaldi’s sexual con game ran on deception about his age. His guilty plea says he was 34 when he preyed upon his first victim. He told her he was around 17. She was 13.
STARTING ON MYSPACE
The first young girl, referred to as “MV1” for “Minor Victim No. 1” said Castaldi used the TagMe part of MySpace to reach out to her when she was in seventh grade in 2008.
“At Castaldi’s request, MV1 sent nuder photographos of herself to him,” his guilty plea says. “Castaldi told MV1 that he was only a few years older than MV1 and provided her with numerous compliments. When MV1 told Castaldi that she was devout in her religion, Castaldi used a religious argument to persuade her to engage in sexual converstaion and produce the nude images of herself.
“Castraldi asked for specific camera angles or lighting for the photographys he requested; he commented upon receiving sexual images.”
Meanwhile, he sent her photos of a teenage boy.
She said they stopped talking online in 2010. Remembering his first or last name was in his email address, years later, she searched for information on Castaldi online and learned he’d left his teen years back in the last century.
Castaldi kept a hard drive, a USB drive, an iPhone 6 and a MacBook, each with nine to 16 photos of MV1.
SHE KNEW HIS NAME, NOT HIS FACE
Castaldi met another 13-year-old girl, referred to as “MV2,” on MySpace in 2012.
“MV2 recalled that Castaldi’s MySpace page profile phoot looked like “a model,”” his factual proffer statement says. “Castaldi told MV2 he loved her. Castaldi asked MV2 to send nude photos to him. Castaldi directed her how to pose and told her what do do in each photo. Castaldi and MV2 “sexted” words and photos.”
But, MV2 noticed, his pictures didn’t match his profile photo. Also, she had questions, such as why did Castaldi never want to do a video chat? Any why did he call another girl “baby” on his page? The proffer says that “upset her because she thought she was in an exclusive relationship with him.”
With some online name checking, she found that she was talking with a man in Jupiter, Florida.
DOMINANT DADDY/LITTLE GIRL VIA SCHOOL EMAIL AND LAPTOP
The third young woman, MV3, “told the FBI she had been in an online dating relationship with Castaldi between 2015 and 2016, noting she communicated with Castaldi using iMessage on her school-issued laptop and school email address.”
On June 22, 2016, Castaldi used Facebook to message her because she didn’t answer his text messages or Kik app messages.
Castaldi’s Google Hangout included conversations about the Dominant Daddy/Little Girl lifestyle. His MacBook Pro had 35 photos in which MV3’s face could be seen, “some with a pacifier in her mouth (in line with the DD/LG relationship)...”
The admission says, “The DD/LG relationship continued throughout their exchange and involved converstaions about day to day activities and sexual activities...”
MV3 thought she and Castaldi were exclusive to each other. She didn’t see his real picture until friends found his LinkedIn profile.