Ah, Levelland. The crown jewel of the South Plains, where the horizon is flat, the wind is relentless, and the local school district apparently uses a “vibe check” instead of a rigorous background search. Meet Camilo Reyes Castillo, a former teacher’s aide who just managed to secure a 720-month stay in the big house. That’s 60 years for those of you who went to school in West Texas and struggled with the math.
Castillo wasn’t just any staff member; he was assigned to help “behavior kids” at the middle school. Because when you have vulnerable children who already need extra support, who better to pair them with than a guy who spends his free time on Telegram and Yahoo—yes, Yahoo, because apparently his crimes weren’t the only thing stuck in the early 2000s—exchanging child pornography?
The investigation kicked off in early 2025 after Castillo bragged to a “cooperating witness” about his extracurricular activities. When the DPS finally raided his home, they found 170 images and videos in his phone’s “deleted” folder. It’s truly heartening to know that our local predators have the same grasp of digital forensics as a grandmother trying to find the “any” key. Castillo eventually admitted to “groping” children while “wrestling,” a defense that surely would have held up if this were a particularly dark episode of Law & Order and not a depressing reality in Hockley County.
Now, thanks to Judge James Wesley Hendrix, Castillo has plenty of time to reflect on his career choices. He’s been ordered to forfeit all the “personal items” he used to produce this filth, though we suspect the federal government doesn’t actually want his crusty old laptop or his questionable morals.
It’s comforting to know that while Levelland ISD was busy worrying about dress codes or library books, they had a guy like Castillo helping “shape the behavior” of the next generation. It really makes you wonder what else is hiding in the “deleted folders” of the South Plains, doesn’t it?
