Jicarilla Apache Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Sexual Abuse Charge

ALBUQUERQUE – Raylon Castillo, 19, an enrolled member of the Jicarilla Apache Nation who resides in Dulce, N.M., pled guilty this afternoon in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to an indictment charging him with sexual abuse of a child.

Castillo was arrested on Dec. 18, 2014, on a criminal complaint alleging that he raped the victim, a Native American female, who was at least 12 years old but not yet 16 years of age, on July 25, 2014, on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in Otero County, N.M.  The complaint alleged that Castillo forced the victim to have sexual intercourse with him.  Castillo was arrested on tribal charges on July 25, 2014, and remained in tribal custody until his arrest on the federal complaint.

Castillo was indicted on May 20, 2015, and charged with sexual abuse of a child who was between the ages of 12 and 16 on July 25, 2014, in Otero County.  During today’s proceedings, Castillo pled guilty to the indictment.

At sentencing, Castillo faces a statutory maximum penalty of 15 years in prison followed by up to three years of supervised release.  Castillo will be required to register as a sex offender after completing his term of incarceration.  He remains in custody pending a sentencing hearing which has yet to be scheduled.

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the FBI and the Mescalero Agency of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron O. Jordan of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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 http://www.justice.gov/psc/.