A 29-year-old freelance photographer accused of engaging in “inappropriate communication” with a girl bailed out of Orange County Jail Thursday.
Steven Jourdan Castro of Chino Hills was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of distributing harmful matter to a minor, contacting a minor with the intent to commit lewd acts, arranging to meet a minor for lewd purposes and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor by soliciting images, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
The girl’s parents called sheriff’s investigators last month when they saw “inappropriate communications between their daughter and Castro,” deputies said. The girl said she met Castro while he was employed as an independent freelance photographer at Pacifica High School and that he “groomed her,” deputies alleged.
Castro has worked as a freelance photographer for several high schools in north Orange County and the San Gabriel Valley, so investigators asked for anyone with relevant information to call them at 714-647-7419 or 714-647-7000.
Orange County Crime Stoppers will accept anonymous tips at 855-TIP-OCCS.