Detectives: Child Victims May Be In Santa Cruz County

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA — Detectives with the Monterey County Sheriff's Office believe a Los Lomas man arrested this week may have victims in Santa Cruz County.

Edgardo DeJesus Castro, 54, has previously been convicted of sodomizing a 13-year-old boy in Santa Cruz County. This week, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office arrested him after interviewing seven- and eleven-year-old boys in north Monterey County who said that Castro asked them to perform oral sex on him, deputies said.

Detectives arrested Castro during a traffic stop at Salinas and Lewis roads, then served a search warrant at his home in the 400 block of Berry Road, where they found child pornography and methamphetamine, the sheriff's office said.

He was arrested on suspicion of many sex crimes and booked into Monterey County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail, the sheriff's office said.

Castro has aliases including Rene Dubon and Edgar Castro, and is known to spend time in Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Las Lomas and Moss Landing, the sheriff's office said. He works as a dishwasher, but has also worked in construction.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective David Gonzalez at 831-755-3811 or Detective Sgt. Bryan Hoskins at 831-755-3773.