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Homeland Security Investigations special agents arrested a 30-year-old Edinburg resident on Monday who they accuse of coercing a teenager into sending sexually explicit photos to him over a two-year period.
Santos Emilio Marcial-Castro, a Mexican citizen born in 1993, is charged with coercing a minor into sending sexually explicit material over Snapchat.
The investigation into Marcial began on April 27 after the HSI-led Rio Grande Valley Child Exploitation Investigations Task Force identified a 15-year-old girl who was the victim of sexual exploitation, according to a criminal complaint.
A search of the teen’s phone revealed communication on Snapchat between the child and a username HSI identified as Marcial through a legal process with the social media application.
The initial conversation began on May 7, 2021 and ended on April 25, according to the complaint. In that initial message the teen told Marcial she was 13 when he asked her how old she was and throughout the conversation the teen sent several nude images to the man, according to the complaint.
The minor told HSI investigators that Marcial asked her to take the nude images on several occasions and that she complied.
HSI interviewed Marcial at his Edinburg residence where the man invoked his right to remain silent.
Federal authorities took Marcial’s phone and sent text messages from the child’s Snapchat account to his account, which appeared in the notification center on his locked iPhone, according to the complaint.
Marcial made a first appearance in McAllen federal court on Tuesday in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker, who found he was a flight risk and ordered him held without bond.
