Castillo was detained on Friday right after the sting operation and he was arraigned today on a single charge of extortion before Magistrate Dorothy Flowers. The charge alleges that he was found with 15 hundred dollar notes. Today at court, his attorney Dickie Bradley said that only one side of the story has been told at this time.
Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney for Castillo
“The allegation is that a person who is in prison and is out on parole is claiming that he handed some money to Mr. Castillo for something that Mr. Castillo cannot help him with, to get parole and he is already on parole. So let’s leave it as an allegation, give the system a chance to work, and let’s see what happens when the actual facts come out on in court.”
Keith Swift,
Mr. Castillo was caught with 15 $100 which, I am not sure if they were marked or not, but those were the bills that Mr. Reneau allegedly gave to him.
Richard “Dickie” Bradley,
“Well somebody can hand to you some money Keith and then they can turn around and say it is for something else. We have to wait until the trial comes. That is why we have a court system. There are two sides to a story. The police report is already giving details which are facts, which they are putting forward as if this has happened. But this is an allegation. You can’t say that we have conducted investigations, a former inmate says so and so, and then you are saying what somebody else is saying, that is hearsay to start with. A date has been set in September, let’s see if in fact the quickness with which they have put out all the facts, they could have it in terms of disclosure so that we can have an early trial.”
Keith Swift,
So you will be asking for a speedy trial?
Richard “Dickie” Bradley,
“Yes I think this is a matter of importance. I think Mr. Castillo’s reputation has been hurt and I am sure he wants his day in court to be exonerated.”
Keith Swift,
Will your client be suspended from his job until the trial is over?
Richard “Dickie” Bradley,
“Most certainly, that is the procedure – that anybody who holds public office and is involved in a matter of this nature, as a matter of fact I think he was saying to me that on Wednesday of last week he was on vacation and that this situation happened while he was on vacation.”
At the time of the sting, Castillo was on vacation. He is to re-appear in court on September 11th. As Bradley mentioned, he has asked for a quick trial. Castillo’s boss, Ombudsman Paul Rodriguez would not grant us an interview on the case. He told us that what he knows as much as we do. As for the parolee, Kelvin Reneau, he had served 8 years for attempted murder at the time of parole.
We are told that police chose the extortion charge because Reneau claims Castillo had indicated to him that his contact on the 9 member parole board had influenced the process in his favor, but the parole board member that Castillo was allegedly claiming for was not at the July 25th meeting.
