A 54-year-old New Jersey man was sentenced Tuesday to five to 10 years in state prison for traveling to Bucks County to meet a person he believed was a 13-year-old girl for sex.

Oscar Castillo-Peralta, from Pleasantville, N.J., was arrested when he arrived on Feb. 19, 2025, after arriving at a Bensalem Township residence expecting to meet the child. Bensalem Township police officers were waiting for Castillo-Peralta when he arrived at 1:30 p.m., dressed in a suit and carrying religious materials to avoid raising suspicion.

“Online predators who attempt to exploit our children will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” District Attorney Joe Khan said. “Thanks to the work of the Bensalem Township Police Department and our prosecution team, this offender will spend years behind bars, where he won’t be able to harm any children.” 

Castillo-Peralta pleaded guilty in April to two counts of unlawful contact with a minor and one count of criminal attempt to disseminate sexually explicit materials to a minor. Common Pleas Judge Stephen A. Corr imposed the state prison sentence on Tuesday and ordered Castillo-Peralta to undergo sex offender treatment while incarcerated.

On Jan. 30, 2025, the defendant began a conversation on a social media app with what he believed to be a 13-year-old female. They exchanged phone numbers and began conversing via text message. Over the next few weeks, the conversation became sexual, and the defendant started to send nude photographs of himself to the 13-year-old female. He also expressed his desire to perform sexual acts on her and have her perform sexual acts on him. 

He agreed to meet at her home in Bensalem on Feb. 19, 2025, when the juvenile's mother was not home and she was all alone. He told her he would dress as a door-to-door religious solicitor and planned to knock on neighbors' doors first so that no one would wonder why he was in the neighborhood. 

The defendant drove from his home in New Jersey that afternoon to Bensalem. When he arrived, police were waiting for him. 

This case was investigated by the Bensalem Township Police Department and was prosecuted by First Assistant District Attorney Kristin McElroy and Deputy District Attorney David O’Beirne. 

Media Contact: Manuel Gamiz Jr., 215.348.6298, mgamiz@buckscounty.org.