A Sheffield man has been sentenced to between 21 and 46 years in prison after pleading guilty to 10 counts of second-degree child pornography.

John R. Castor was charged in 2024 with 25 counts of child pornography as well as a single count of criminal use of a communications facility. He pleaded guilty in June to 10 counts of child pornography, with the rest not prosecuted, and was sentenced this week by Judge Gregory Hammond in the Court of Common Pleas. Sentencing on two of the counts was 36 to 96 months in prison while the remaining five were for 36 to 72 months. Castor will also serve five years of probation when he is released.

The case was prosecuted by attorney Angela Raver of the state Attorney General’s Office.

Castor has been in the Warren County Prison since his August 2024 arrest. Bail had been set at $200,000. According to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case, the Attorney General’s Child Predator Section received four cyber trips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children generated by Google and Facebook.

An investigation commenced with email addresses that were limited to a Windstream IP address and then to Castor’s residence. Agents went to the residence on Aug. 6, 2024, and spoke with Castor’s mother, who allegedly told them Castor was incarcerated in SCI Coal Township due to a parole violation. A search warrant allowed investigators to seize a phone and tablet believed to be owned by Castor.

Agents then met with Castor at the facility on Aug. 15. He allegedly “asked if we were able to access his gold colored Samsung cell phone since it required his fingerprint to open it.” Investigators told them they could and had performed a forensic review of the device.

The affidavit states that the phone “contained hundreds of images and videos of children being sexually abused in a variety of manners.”

In addition to that content, investigators allege graphic conversations that appear to indicate Castor’s desire to assault a young family member.

The affidavit goes into descriptions of many of 25 items of child pornography for which he is being charged.

“The children depicted in these 25 files all appear to be under the age of 10 years old,” the affidavit alleges.

Castor was sentenced back in 2020 to a state prison sentence on a child pornography count. That sentence included 30 to 60 months incarceration and designation as a Tier I sexual offender under Megan’s Law.