Judge: No charges filed in child porn case
Prosecutors request followup information
A criminal case was not filed Tuesday in Yuma Justice Court against the 36-year-old Somerton who was arrested for allegedly being in possession of numerous digital images of child pornography.
Marco Antonio Castillo was taken into custody without incident at his place of work last week and was booked into the Yuma County jail on charges of sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography. He was being held on a $20,000 cash-only bond.
When Castillo appeared for his arraignment, he was informed by Justice of the Peace Juan M. Guerrero that no charges had been filed against him in the matter and that he would be released later in the day.
“The court has no choice but to release you,” Guerrero said.
The reason no charges were filed, Guerrero told Castillo, was because the Yuma County Attorney’s Office requested some follow-up information on the case from the Somerton Po-
lice Department.
Guerrero also warned Castillo that prosecutors could still decide to file charges against him at a later date, and if that happens, he would be sent a summons to appear back in court.
If he does not appear at the date and time listed in the summons, Guerrero warned, a warrant would be issued for his arrest.
The judge also explained that prosecutors have up to a year to file misdemeanor charges and up to seven years for felony charges.
Castillo’s arrest followed an investigation by detectives from the Somerton Police
Department, who received information from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s cyber crime unit that an individual with a local IP address was viewing hundreds of child pornography images.
A search warrant was obtained and Somerton police detectives, with the assistance of the Yuma County Narcotics Task Force, executed it Thursday at Castillo’s residence.
Detectives seized numerous electronic devices that are believed to contain evidence during the service of the warrant.
Also, Castillo was allegedly found to be in possession of digital evidence at the time of his arrest.