A man in Florida who pretended to be a teenager so that young girls would send sexually explicit photographs of themselves has been jailed for 25 years after being investigated by the FBI.
The crimes took place in Palm Beach Gardens, which is a city located just over 70 miles north of Miami in the south-eastern US state of Florida, and the case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in cooperation with local law enforcement.
The criminal has been named as Dwight Castaldi, 45, by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, which said that he had been communicating with girls as young as 13 on social networks.
The US attorney’s office released a statement on Wednesday 3rd November, in which it said that “a Palm Beach Gardens, Florida adult who enticed minor girls into sending him sexually explicit pictures of themselves by, among other things, pretending to be a teenager during on-line chats was sentenced yesterday to 25 years in federal prison and supervised release for life.”
It also said: “Beginning in 2008, Dwight Castaldi, 45, communicated with at least six minor-aged girls, as young as 13, on a social networking websites.”
It added that the criminal had sent his victims photographs of another person who was a lot younger and who has not been identified, to entice them to send him sexually explicit photographs of themselves. The statement said: “Castaldi told the girls he was a teenager and sent the victims pictures of an unknown young man, falsely claiming they were pictures of him.”
Castaldi tricked his victims into thinking that they were in an exclusive relationship with him as part of his manipulative ploy to get them to send him the incriminating images.
The statement from the authorities said: “During chats, Castaldi told the minors that they were in exclusive relationships with him and convinced the minors to take sexually explicit pictures of themselves and send the images to him.
“Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Castaldi’s Palm Beach County home in 2018. They found several electronic devices containing hundreds of videos and photographs of child exploitation material and evidence of Castaldi communicating with others about the illegal material.”
The defendant had previously pleaded guilty to producing and distributing child pornography. The statement said: “Castaldi previously pled guilty to production, distribution, and possession of child pornography, and online enticement of minors. U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith, who sits in Ft. Lauderdale, imposed the sentence.
“U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez of the Southern District of Florida and Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro, FBI Miami, announced the sentence.”
The defendant was investigated by the FBI, with the statement saying: “FBI Miami investigated the case, together with the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department and Huntington Beach California Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Schiller prosecuted the case.”
The statement added: “This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
“Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about the Project Safe Childhood initiative and for information regarding Internet safety, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.”
The authorities also released contact information that could be of use to anyone interested in reporting child sexual exploitation to the authorities. They said: “To report online child sexual exploitation, use the electronic Cyber Tip Line or call 1-800-843-5678.
“The Cyber Tip Line is operated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in partnership with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.”
