A federal judge sentenced a 53-year-old New Mexico man on July 6 to three years and four months in prison for abusive sexual contact of an 11-year-old South Dakota girl on May 12, 2018.
After his sentence, Nathan Castillo will be under five years of supervised release. U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Viken also ordered Castillo to pay a routine $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
A federal grand jury indicted Castillo in April 2019 on one count of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor and two count of abusive sexual contact. Law enforcement arrested him on Dec. 3, 2019 in Albuquerque. He pleaded guilty on March 3, 2022 to the one count of abusive sexual contact in exchange for the government dropping the other charges.
The crime occurred in an RV parked at the Prairie Winds Hotel and Casino near Oglala. Castillo took four children — three girls and one boy, ages nine, 10, 11 and 12 — with him to the hotel to swim at the pool. Court documents show he was not related to any of the children, but a decade before the crime he lived in his RV for “an extensive amount of time” near the 12-year-old’s grandmother’s home.
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A factual basis statement signed by both the prosecution and defense states the 12-year-old asked Castillo if she could bring along two of her friends. The victim’s mother allowed her and her sister to go along.
After Castillo and the four children swam in the pool until closing time at approximately 9 p.m., the children showered in a hotel room. As part of an RV reservation, patrons were allowed to access a hotel room before and after swimming.
The children returned to Castillo’s camper to sleep for the night. The victim and her sister shared a bed, and the two other children — who were siblings — shared a bed as well. On the other end of the RV, Castillo slept in a bed.
After the victim was asleep, Castillo moved to the other side of the RV and touched the 11-year-old underneath her underwear for an undetermined amount of time.
“At the time of the sexual contact, (the victim) was asleep and was unable to appraise the nature of the conduct and was unable to decline participation in the sexual contact,” the factual basis statement reads.
When Castillo brought the children back to their mother on Mother’s Day, he gave her a gift. The victim “not wanting to ruin Mother’s Day” waited to tell her mother about Castillo touching her.
Castillo will have to register as a sex offender when he is released and participate in sex offender treatment.
— Contact Shalom Baer Gee at sgee@rapidcityjournal.com —