A Texas man has been arrested on suspicion of sending perverse and threatening text messages to real estate agents across America.
Lubbock resident Andy Castillo allegedly used multiple phone numbers and an app to mask his identity when cyber-stalking as many as 100 realtors in up to 22 different states.
The 56-year-old is accused of sending pornographic images to agents along with sexually explicit text messages soliciting sex. It is further alleged that Castillo attempted to solicit sex from some agents' children.
Castillo is accused of downloading photographs of agents' kids from social media and sending the pictures to the agents, along with chilling descriptions of his desire to sexually assault their children.
All the real estate agents targeted in this particularly disturbing cyber-stalking case are women.
Detective Joseph Scaramucci said Castillo "was searching the top 10 realtors in different cities" and "saving female realtors' photographs right off the internet with their contact information."
Castillo was arrested in his apartment last week and taken into custody by McLennan County Sheriff's Office (MCSO). Authorities seized two cellphones and an electronic tablet belonging to Castillo.
Deputies allege that just five minutes prior to his arrest, Castillo sent lewd and threatening messages to people in San Francisco and New Orleans.
McLennan County sheriff Parnell McNamara said the MCSO began investigating Castillo in late December 2019 after receiving complaints from seven Waco-based realtors about pornographic images and messages that they had received from unknown numbers.
The results of the investigation suggest Castillo sent sexually explicit and threatening messages to women in at least twenty cities in ten different states. However, McNamara said Castillo could have stalked hundreds of women in up to 22 states and that he is expecting further victims to come forward.
Currently, Castillo is accused of cyber-stalking agents throughout Texas, including in Amarillo, El Paso, Lubbock, San Antonio, and Waco. The Texan is facing a second-degree felony charge of criminal solicitation with intent to commit aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Police are investigating reports of similar cyber-stalking behavior that have been filed in Tucson, Arizona; Anaheim, Berkeley, Irvine, San Jose, and Santa Clara, California; Broward County and Daytona Beach, Florida; New Orleans, Louisiana; Reno, Nevada; Albany and Manhattan, New York; Belfort, South Carolina; Seattle, Washington; and Washington, D.C.