A bunch of realtors are resting easier today, thanks to an arrest in Lubbock.
Mclennan County Sheriff's Parnell McNamara says they arrested 56 year old Andy Castillo at his Lubbock apartment. Castillo is accused of sending female realtors pornographic texts which included threats to sexually assault their children. McNamara says they first received word of this December 23rd because several realtors in Waco had been getting "nasty pornographic images texted to them on their phone, with these terrible suggestive messages, also soliciting sex from their children, from their little bitty kids."
They started an investigation right away and zeroed in on Castillo. Their detectives partnered with Lubbock police and DPS. He says a search of Castillo's apartment showed he was the one sending the messages.
McNamara calls Castillo a "sick pervert and a low scumbag."
He says they've now determined he's done this in 10 states and 20 cities. "We don't know how many have been harassed and stalked, but we're getting calls from California and other states, saying thank your for arresting this guy. One lady said she'd been putting up with him for over a year."
McNamara believes there could be more than 200 victims. He says Castillo went after real estate agents because their names, photos and numbers are published online so they can be contacted to show property. "He would go online and google the top ten realtors in a particular city and start targeting them. It was extremely frightening for the realtors and disgusting as well."
Aside from Texas, he's suspected of harassing realtors in Arizona, California, Louisiana, Florida, Nevada, New York, South Carolina, Washington state and Washington, DC. Cities in Texas include Amarillo, El Paso, Lubbock, San Antonio and Waco.
McNamara says they are reaching out to police agencies in other cities to find out if realtors there have filed complaints.