McALLEN, Texas — ICE officer Christian Castro pleaded not guilty Friday, Sept. 4, 2026, to six federal counts of making false statements after an indictment detailing alleged lies about a January Minneapolis shooting was unsealed, CBS Minnesota reported. Castro, 52, turned himself in Thursday evening, appeared shackled in federal court in McAllen, and was ordered released on a $75,000 unsecured bond with a GPS ankle monitor. Each count carries a maximum of five years in prison if he is convicted.

The indictment alleges Castro lied to an FBI special agent the night of the shooting about several details — including claiming he was on his back when he fired, claiming he was attacked by multiple assailants with a broom and a snow shovel, and stretching a roughly 11-second struggle into an account lasting about three minutes. “No person struck” Castro “with a broom as he described, and no persons wielded the broom and snow shovel as he described,” the indictment states, according to CBS Minnesota. The Jan. 14 case centers on the shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis through the front door of a north Minneapolis duplex; two children were among those inside. Federal prosecutors had earlier charged Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna with assault, then dropped those charges after surveillance video undercut the officers’ accounts.

Defense attorney David Lindenmuth urged the public not to rush to judgment and to let his client “have his day in court.” “His life has been that of public service to our country and to our nation, either through its military or protecting its borders and enforcing its laws,” Lindenmuth said after the hearing. Separately, Minnesota has charged Castro with assault and false reporting of a crime. He was released from Texas custody last week after Gov. Greg Abbott did not sign an extradition warrant before a 90-day holding period expired. DHS has suspended Castro without pay since February.

The Justice Department said it continues to evaluate the facts and has not ruled out additional charges. A person familiar with the investigation told the Associated Press the civil-rights probe into Castro is continuing. Four sources told CBS News that Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans — who ProPublica reported had objected when Main Justice directed a false-statements-only charge — was fired; an automatic reply from Evans’s DOJ account said he was on leave, and CBS sources said a DOJ probe is focusing on alleged leaking. Sosa-Celis’s attorney, Robin Wolpert, said Castro’s statements were made to “cover up the fact that he shot my client through the door of an occupied house without a self-defense justification,” and that “Mr. Sosa Celis wants Mr. Castro to be held fully accountable for his crimes.” For our earlier sealed-charge report, see ICE officer charged with lying about Minneapolis shooting.

Sources