Sheriff’s Cadet Is Accused of Offering to Kill Classmate’s Wife

Instead of graduating Saturday from the Ventura County Police and Sheriff’s Reserve Academy, 27-year-old Anthony Lamug Castillo of Oxnard found himself in jail, accused of having offered to kill a fellow cadet’s wife for $10,000.

Ventura County sheriff’s deputies arrested Castillo late Friday at 5th Street and Rice Road in Oxnard as he drove to his job as a civilian armed guard at the Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center, the county’s largest military base.

The longtime county resident and local high school graduate was booked into the Ventura County Jail on suspicion of solicitation for murder. Bail was set at $250,000.

“This is the first time in my memory an incident of this nature has occurred,” said academy Cmdr. Stan Myers after presiding over the graduation of Castillo’s 34 classmates before hundreds of friends and relatives at the Ventura College theater.

“Up to the time the incident occurred, he was doing a relatively good job,” Myers said.

“His production, his status in the class, was average. There was nothing to bring our attention to him as a special problem. There was nothing to bring our attention to him as a special achiever.”

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But police allege that Castillo approached an unidentified fellow cadet who was having marital problems and offered to kill his wife for a fee. Investigators said Castillo had begun planning the slaying at the time of his arrest, but declined to say how long he had been under surveillance before being taken into custody.

“They had discussed the murder of the cadet’s wife and Castillo is alleged to have come up with some ideas of how it could be done,” Sheriff’s Department spokesman Chuck Buttell said.

Buttell declined to identify the cadet Castillo reportedly approached, and said that Castillo’s motivation for the alleged crime is unknown.

The academy, offered through Ventura College, is designed to produce potential reserve police officers or reserve deputy sheriffs, positions that are often preparatory to becoming full-time peace officers. But graduation is no guarantee that students will go on to join a police department, Myers said.

The nine-credit program, taught by peace officers, is open to any adult capable of passing a physical examination and possessing a valid driver’s license. Students take 394 1/2 hours of instruction over 21 weeks that includes training on firearm use, criminal law and the California court system.

About half of all academy graduates go on to serve police departments in some capacity, Myers said.

Background checks for those applying to become reserve officers are just as rigorous as for full-time officers, he said.

Graduating students, who were informed of their classmate’s arrest before Saturday’s ceremony, declined comment.

“That’s a bad situation,” said class President Earnest Bell, “and I don’t have any comment about it.”

Speakers during the ceremony made no reference to Castillo’s arrest, although his name was listed on the program along with the rest of the graduating class.

Ventura College President Larry Calderon reminded graduates they must live by example and that their actions must be “beyond suspicion.”

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Bell told his classmates many of them will enter a “very honorable profession” despite the “black eye” it has received in recent years.

“These are some of the hardest-working, [most] honest people I know,” he said of his fellow students.

Castillo had worked at the front gates of the naval base for at least a year, said spokesman Alan Alpers.

“I find it difficult to comprehend,” Alpers said. “He’s one of the more jovial guards that we have. He’s genial--you can talk to him.”

Alpers described Castillo as a “Star Trek” fan, clean-cut, athletic and “a pretty nice guy.”

Castillo was employed by the private security company Teltara Inc., but company officials contacted Saturday declined comment.

Solicitation for murder is a relatively rare crime in Ventura County for anyone, let alone someone who could potentially become a police officer, Buttell said.

He could recall only three instances of the crime during his almost quarter of a century in law enforcement.

Myers also expressed surprise at Castillo’s arrest.

“The good within our ranks far out-shadows the bad,” he said. “It’s an unfortunate thing--it casts a shadow on the finer people in the program.”