The FBI is seeking any possible victims of 36-year-old Carlos Jobany Castaneda Lechuga (or, “Carlos Castaneda”), an Arizona State University (ASU) Outstanding Graduate and former Kyrene School District teacher charged with producing child pornography.
The Department of Justice announced Castaneda’s charges this month, on which day he was scheduled for a detention hearing. Leading up to his arrest, Castaneda resided in Laredo, Texas.
According to the allegations against Castaneda, the child pornography videos he produced included an adult male with different minor children in at least three different videos, all distributed on the dark web.
Castaneda was the ASU Outstanding Graduate for the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts in 2015 and 2017. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degree in music at ASU. Castaneda was also the co-director of ASU’s Mariachi Ensemble, where members were as young as 12 years old.
While in Arizona, Castaneda had plenty of access to many children as young as kindergarteners.
In addition to teaching orchestra at Kyrene School District, Castaneda taught at several Valley nonprofits for children: Rosie’s House, a music academy, and Harmony Project Phoenix, a mentorship program for underserved youth.
According to a chapter Castaneda contributed to the book “Marginalized Voices in Music Education,” Castaneda converted one side of the house he was renting at the time into a music studio for private trumpet and violin lessons during the week and two local youth mariachi ensembles on the weekends. One youth ensemble overseen by Castaneda was the “Mariachi Saguaritos.” When authorities executed their search warrant earlier this month on Castaneda, his residence was identified as a location for the production of at least one of the child pornography videos.
Castaneda also wrote that he taught beginning mariachi as well as private guitar, violin, and trumpet lessons for children ages six through nine.
“I have a strong desire to learn more about how children learn,” wrote Castaneda. “I want to have a positive impact on my students and inspire them to pursue further education.”
Castaneda also noted that he worked several hours a week with an unnamed elementary and middle school orchestra teacher as part of his required internships. He also worked with a woman named “Susan,” an elementary general music teacher at one of the schools taught by another woman, “Valerie.”
“Seeing the kids every day and trying to memorize hundreds of names was an intense experience,” wrote Castaneda.
The purpose of Castaneda’s book contribution was to lament the prevalence of white people in mariachi music.
“I am impressed and disappointed at the same time because the majority of the people who have written about mariachi music or have done big things with mariachi education in the United States have been mainly White American scholars,” wrote Castaneda. “I think it is about time for a Mexican descendant to start doing something with mariachi music education. This has been one of my biggest motivators.”
Castaneda also lectured at Arizona Musicfest and served as the workshop director for CALLE de Arizona.
Prior to coming to Arizona, Castaneda attended Southwestern Community College. He decided to come to ASU after the director of the community’s college’s mariachi ensembles, Jeff Nevin, was offered a position at ASU as their mariachi ensemble and history professor.
After leaving ASU, Castaneda taught mariachi, music convocation, and orchestra at the Texas A&M International University (TAIMU), where he continued offering private lessons to minors as he did in Arizona.
If convicted, Castaneda may face up to 30 years in federal prison for producing child pornography as well as a maximum of 20 years for distribution of child pornography.
Castaneda was caught as part of Project Safe Childhood, an ongoing Justice Department initiative launched in 2006 to counter child sexual exploitation and abuse.
If you have any information about possible victims or believe you have been victimized, please contact the FBI at (210) 225-6741.
