A New York daycare worker was arrested last month for allegedly producing child porn with at least one child in his care.
On May 3, police arrested Silfredo Castillo Martinez, 32, at his daycare in the Bronx, as reported by New York Daily News.
One of the Victims Identified as Child Who Attended Martinez's Daycare
Investigators said Martinez has been making child porn since 2011, and they identified one of the victims in an illicit video as a child who attended his daycare, according to the outlet. The NYPD said the child Martinez allegedly victimized was 12 at the time, though they did not disclose when the reported assault transpired.
Martinez ran the after-school program out of his home in the Bronx. He worked with older, school-aged children at the centre, which advertised itself as Lina's Garden Day Care.
Martinez first received his home daycare license in October 2019. The center was licensed to have 12 children between the ages of six weeks to 12 years old in addition to four school-aged children. The business has been closed since his arrest and his license has been suspended.
Martinez, who is charged with producing and possessing child pornography, remains jailed on a $300,000 bond. Police are in the process of identifying additional victims.
'It's Sickening'
"It's sickening. I trusted him. I really did. I'm astonished. My kids have been in his day care for years," said Martinez's neighbor Jessica Biel, whose 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter used to attend the center.
"My son really loved him. He was in his after-school program, in the back. Every child in the day care loved him," she added. "He was in charge of the children in the back. Until this, it was the best day-care program we ever had."
Biel also noted that detectives and city Administration for Children's Services workers have interviewed his son about the arrest. "I'm astonished. It was very scary. I've never talked to my children about intimacy. They're just little kids," she said. "I have to send my kids to day care. I have no choice. I have to work. I pray to God nothing was done to them."
