Facebook predator? Kennewick man charged with 3 rapes

A 20-year-old man pleaded innocent to his third case involving the alleged rape of underage girls he befriended on Facebook.

Valentin A. Castrejon has a Dec. 5 trial date in Benton County Superior Court on one count of second-degree rape of a child.

The following week, he is scheduled to face a Franklin County Superior Court jury on two separate cases.

While a Benton County judge ordered Castrejon’s bail to remain at $50,000 on that rape case, he may remain in the Franklin County jail with bail for another case set at $1 million.

Court documents show that the girl met Castrejon on Facebook and agreed to meet with him at a Kennewick apartment.

She said that she told Castrejon her real age before they had sex. He replied that he was 21, and said she could not tell anyone because it was illegal for them to have sex, court documents said.

Police drove the girl to the complex so she could identify the apartment where she met with Castrejon. It reportedly is where his sister lives.

The alleged crime happened between February and August, while Castrejon was out of custody on his pending 2015 Franklin County case.

As police were investigating him for more recent allegations, the name of a girl who lives in Benton County surfaced as a possible victim.

Castrejon is charged in Franklin County for second-degree rape of a child in the 2015 case.

Last month, prosecutors added charges to his 2016 case for a total of seven felony counts: first-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct; second-degree rape of a child; two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor; and three counts of third-degree rape of a child.

Prosecutors allege he “friended [sic] thousands of apparent under-age females” on his Facebook account, with the intent to lure them to have sex with him.

A Pasco woman contacted police in July after discovering that her teenage daughter had sex with an older man, court documents said. The girl reportedly helped Castrejon leave the house through a back door when her mother came home.

The girl told detectives that she met Castrejon at a party earlier in the year, and that the two stayed in contact through Facebook and text messages, court records said.

Castrejon allegedly was identified by the girl after she was shown a Facebook profile with an alias.

This story was originally published October 16, 2016 at 2:32 PM with the headline "Facebook predator? Kennewick man charged with 3 rapes."