GOSHEN – A former school teacher pled guilty on Thursday before Town of Wallkill Justice Joseph Owen in connection with having deleted electronic communications between him and a person posing as a 15-year-old girl he had planned to meet in Queens on July 27, 2018.
Jonathan Castell, 46, of Wallkill, admitted having deleted messages so that they could not be used as evidence against him.
Castell, who at the time was a teacher in the Middletown school district, had been communicating over the Internet with an adult who was posing as a 15-year-old girl. He admitted deleting communications he had sent to the person, that stated, “So any chance I can see a pic of you in your nice comfy bed,” and, “I do feel a little weird because of the age difference but honestly it also excites me.”
Castell also admitted deleting a message from the purported 15-year-old asking: “This is kinda strange a strange question but if we did anything could u bring protection?” as well as Castell’s response, which was, “I can.”
When Castell traveled to Queens to meet the “victim,” he was confronted by a man, who recorded his interactions with Castell, and who told Castell that he knew why he had come to Queens and that law enforcement authorities were being notified of his behavior and that he would be arrested. Castell admitted that when he went home he deleted his conversations pertaining to the meeting with the purposed 15-year-old.
He was initially charged with attempted endangering the welfare of a minor.
On September 4, following an examination of Castell’s electronic devices which had been recovered during execution of a search warrant, he was charged with attempted tampering of physical evidence.
He is scheduled to be sentenced in December.
“It is disturbing that a school teacher would engage in this type of conduct and then seek to cover it up,” said District Attorney David Hoovler. “I urge all those who have information that someone may be seeking to act in a manner which endangers children to contact law enforcement officials.”
