14 Oct Yoakum County Man Convicted in Federal Child Enticement Trial

A Federal jury has found a Yoakum County man guilty of using his phone to entice a girl, then 13, into sexual abuse, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

Vicente Castillo Jr., 37, broke down in tears in the courtroom when Judge Wesley Hendrix read the verdict. Hendrix will sentence him in late January, and the penalty ranges from a 10-year floor to a life term.

He’s not done in court. Castillo also faces a state charge in Yoakum County, continuous sexual abuse of a child. That one carries 25 years up to life, with no parole.

The case began in November 2025. The girl’s mother testified that she saw the two arguing at church one day, and Castillo told the mom to confiscate her daughter’s phone over her “attitude.” The mom sensed something was off and pressed her daughter about it. The girl told her she couldn’t say, and later handed her a folded note with three lines disclosing what had happened.

Mother and daughter decided to get proof. The girl hid her phone in her hoodie pocket and secretly recorded Castillo’s reaction as she told him she might be expecting. Jurors heard an amplified copy. He insisted that wasn’t possible, then bought a test. It came back negative. The girl sent her mom the recording, and her mom called police, who were at the home within minutes.

At trial, the girl, now 14, was the key witness. She testified the abuse started at age 6. By then she’d already known Castillo for three years. She said she kept quiet for years because he warned her that speaking up would leave her, her mom and her sisters homeless, and that people would look at her differently. She said she stopped pushing back at some point because it only made things worse, and that he sometimes bought her things she needed, including skin care items and meals.

Then there were the texts. Prosecutors showed jurors messages pulled from Castillo’s phone that, on their face, read like a parent talking to a kid. The girl explained what they really meant. A late-night text telling her to come out to where he slept meant what was about to happen, she said, and some included reminders to keep her light off and not slam her door so nobody woke up. She also said he either had her wipe the messages or erased them himself, so investigators had to recover them from his device.

Castillo didn’t take the stand, but jurors did hear a recording of him talking with a Denver City Police Department detective, where he acknowledged abusing the girl.

FBI Agent Brittany Smith testified that the case reached her through a routine sit-down with area agencies. It was during Smith’s sit-down with the girl that the phone’s role in the abuse came out.

He pleaded not guilty. His lawyers argued the evidence might hold up on the state charges but didn’t meet the bar for the federal enticement charge. In closing, attorney Jeff Sheets suggested the girl could have been coached, pointing to inconsistencies between her testimony and her earlier statements to investigators, interviewers and a doctor. He also noted Smith’s interview with her wasn’t recorded and said the girl had a motive to give Smith whatever would put Castillo away.

The prosecutor called that argument “preposterous.” She said there was no sign the girl had been coached or that Smith planted anything, and that her testimony came from what she lived through.

This story has been updated to remove an incorrect date for the verdict.