Silfredo Castillo Martínez, owner of a daycare that operated in his home in the Bronx (NYC), was accused of making child pornography with at least one of the children in his care.
Additionally, the New York police said yesterday that they are looking for more possible victims of the suspect. Castillo Martinez, age 30, ran a group daycare from her home on Decatur Ave. near on E. Gun Hill Road in the Norwood neighborhood until May 3, when police arrested him on multiple charges related to possession and promotion of child pornography.
Police cybercrime investigators of New York suspected Castillo Martinez of trafficking child pornography since July 2011, and the NYPD determined that one of the children in an illegal video went to the nursery in his center. That minor was 12 years old at the time, an NYPD spokesperson said.
Castillo Martínez worked with school-age minors in the back of the center, which functioned as “Lina’s Garden Day Care,” said neighbor Jessica Biel, whose son of 10 years old and his 6-year-old daughter used to attend that nursery school.
“It’s disgusting. I trust him. I really did. I am amazed. My kids have been in his daycare for years,” Biel told the Daily News. “My son really loved him. He was in his after school program, in the back. All the children in the nursery loved him”.
“He was in charge of the children in the back. Up to this point, it was the best daycare program we’ve ever had,” added the distraught mother.
The Monday night there was a manila folder hanging from the front door of the center with a note handwritten in blue marker that read, “We are temporarily closed.”
State records show that Castillo Martínez obtained licensed for the first time to run an out-of-home daycare center in October of 2019, and that your center had the capacity to caring for 12 children between 6 weeks old and 12 years of age, as well as four other minors of school age.
His license was suspended on May 5 as a result of his arrest and the charges against him, records show, and he is in custody.
Last night the police published the photo of Castillo Martínez asking anyone to If you have more information call Crime Stoppers at (888) 577-TIPS and in Spanish 1-888-57-CLUE (74782). Also through crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or by text message to 274637 (CRIMES), followed by TIP577. All communications are strictly confidential.
In a similar case, in the middle of this month Brian Quiñones, an employee of a high school in Brooklyn (NYC), was accused by federal authorities from the FBI for allegedly extorting money from a minor to produce pornography and exchanging such content with another sex offender.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) alerted from 2020 about an increase in cases of child pornography during the pandemic, due to the lack of school, sports and recreational activity, and the increased time of adults and children online.
A Bronx day care provider is accused of making child porn with at least one of the kids in his care. The NYPD said it’s looking for more possible victims.https://t.co/3aomKPg9fI— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) May 30, 2022