Miami Accident Lawyer Blog
MIAMI, FL— October 13, 2011 – Authorities from the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) on Oct. 11 arrested and charged a former youth counselor after a teenage boy reported being assaulted, both physically and sexually, by him. According to information provided by NBC Miami, 44-year-old Raphael Castillo, who is being currently being detained in lieu of $20,000 bail, faces four counts of sexual assault and battery.
In a sworn statement on Oct. 11, the unidentified 17-year-old victim gave a detailed account of the explicit sexual advances and encounters involving his court-ordered youth counselor Raphael Castillo. At the time of the alleged assaults, Castillo worked at a Plantation-based non-profit organization that helps troubled adolescents and young adults. According to the non-profit behavioral health agency’s website, The Starting Place “provides therapeutic prevention, intervention programs, and rehabilitative and educational counseling for adolescents and their families in Broward County.”
Castillo was accused of engaging in conversations of a sexually explicit nature with the minor, as well as touching him inappropriately and ultimately having sex with him on Sept. 21 and Oct. 10, respectively. Both of those incidents seemed to have occurred after the alleged sexual assault victim had already completed the court-ordered counseling program. Reports stated that in the Oct. 10 incident, which took place in Castillo’s car, the former counselor had sexual intercourse with the teen in a Hollywood alleyway.
Castillo admitted to having sex with the 17-year-old and is being currently being detained on $20,000 bail. As investigations into the South Florida sexual assault case are ongoing, The Starting Place CEO Joel Kaufman maintained, “Our uppermost concern is for the client and his family and doing whatever we can to make sure they are receiving the assistance they need as they move through this process… If any parts of the allegations prove to be true, the actions would have been those of a rogue employee acting outside the normal course and scope of his employment and in a criminal manner.”
About the Miami Sexual Assault Lawyers and Personal Injury Attorneys of Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.
Working closely with advocacy groups such as the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC), the Miami sexual assault attorneys of Gerson & Schwartz are dedicated to protecting and enforcing the rights of rape and sexual assault victims. With more than 30 years of experiencing litigating a variety of complex injury and assault claims, the Florida injury attorneys of Gerson & Schwartz, P.A. will fight to help victims of sexual assault and rape obtain the justice a compensation they deserve.