Saul Castillo-Crespo, a 28-year-old Mexican citizen, has been indicted in U.S. District Court on charges of violating the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) and for illegally re-entering the United States. The indictment was unsealed following an announcement by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Castillo-Crespo was previously convicted in August 2017 in D.C. Superior Court for kidnapping and sexually abusing an intoxicated stranger in Northwest Washington. He was sentenced to five years in prison for those offenses. After serving his sentence, he was deported to Mexico in January 2023.
Authorities allege that Castillo-Crespo returned illegally to the United States in March 2025. He failed to register as a sex offender upon his return, which is required under SORNA. Local law enforcement arrested him in June 2025.
“This defendant has repeatedly crossed the border illegally to commit multiple crimes in the District of Columbia,” said U.S. Attorney Pirro. “He’s a poster boy for the kind of threat that we are determined to remove from our community.”
According to court documents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) learned of Castillo-Crespo’s presence after Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers arrested him on June 27, 2025, charging him with unlawful entry and destroying property. At the time of arrest, he identified himself as “David Crespo.”
Law enforcement fingerprinted “David Crespo” on July 16, 2025. The FBI subsequently identified him as Saul Castillo-Crespo based on fingerprint records matching those of a previously deported individual.
The original incident leading to his prior conviction occurred on May 7, 2017, when Castillo-Crespo encountered an extremely intoxicated woman near Lafayette Square in downtown Washington during early morning hours. According to authorities, he took her by taxi to his apartment building on Seventh Street NW despite her requests to go home. Surveillance footage showed her resisting entry into his apartment and attempting to leave several times before being blocked and eventually carried away by Castillo-Crespo, who then assaulted her in a stairwell.
The investigation involved both ICE and the Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Josh Satter and Kyle McWaters are prosecuting the case.
