Ex-teacher admits to
making moves on ’Net

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

A former schoolteacher and Northeast youth sports coach pleaded guilty last week to a series of felony charges stemming from his attempts to arrange sex with a 15-year-old boy via the Internet in 2005.
Michael Castleman, 42, of the 3600 block of Red Lion Road, faces a possible 27 years in prison after admitting on March 26 to solicitation to commit statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor and possessing child pornography.
His sentencing is scheduled for June 26.
All three counts are felonies. Prosecutors agreed not to pursue several lesser charges against the defendant in exchange for the plea, according to Assistant District Attorney Mark Cipolletti.
The plea came on the day of Castleman’s scheduled waiver trial before Common Pleas Court Senior Judge Anthony J. DeFino.
An alert parent interceded in the improper online communications before Castleman actually met up with the teen boy, Cipolletti said. The boy is not being identified because of his age.
Investigators believe that the defendant, who had been teaching at Bucks County Technical School for five years at the time and was a longstanding volunteer for the Somerton Youth Organization football program, spent up to two months exchanging messages with the victim in early 2005.
America Online filters eventually picked up some of the inappropriate content contained in messages sent by Castleman to the boy.
"Because of some of the content of the messages, AOL sent a ‘shutdown’ message to (the boy’s) computer," said Cipolletti.
"His mom also used the computer, saw the message and asked him about it. Then she saw that the defendant’s screen name was blocked. She unblocked it and got some messages."
In those messages, Castleman inquired why the boy had stopped communicating with him. The boy’s mother alerted police, who set up a sting to catch the suspect.
An officer from the Delaware County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force posed as the 15-year-old boy by using his screen name. Castleman solicited the undercover officer for sex.
A month-long investigation led to Castleman’s arrest on March 14, 2005.
Later, investigators served a warrant at his home and seized his computer, which contained a series of pornographic photographs of unknown children, Cipolletti said.
Authorities found no evidence that Castleman attempted to solicit any other children for sex. ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com