PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Phoenix-area father says he was wrongly barred from his daughter’s elementary school after an automated background check matched his middle name and physical characteristics to a Wisconsin sex offender registry entry.
Jonathan Castillo went to Las Brisas Elementary School to enroll his daughter. School staff photographed him, which Castillo said he believed was for a visitor badge. Hours later, he received a text message saying he was not approved, followed by a phone call.
“I got a call from the school principal saying we need to let you know that your name and photo was flagged out of the state of Wisconsin for a sex registry sexual assault and I need to let you know that until there’s an investigation, you’re not allowed to be on school grounds,” Castillo said.
Castillo said he has never been to Wisconsin and is not a sex offender. He is a veteran who served as a combat medic.
“Your heart is just pounding. What do you mean? Where is this coming from? What does this mean for me? Are the police going to show up at my door? What’s happening? I care about children so to be in the same sentence as someone on a sexual registry is devastating as a parent,” Castillo said.
School apologizes after letter from father
Castillo wrote a letter to the school Tuesday demanding answers about which vendor was used and the basis for the match. The school responded Wednesday, apologizing for the mistake, identifying the vendor and confirming that Castillo’s middle name and certain physical characteristics matched someone in the registry.
The school has since cleared Castillo, but he said he is still seeking answers.
“Who authorized the decision to say this person is not allowed on school grounds? Just a third-party computer or a human who verified this? I have no idea how you made that judgment in the first place or how you’re going to ensure that doesn’t happen again to me or other parents,” Castillo said.
Private investigator: Automated background checks ‘notoriously incomplete’
Longtime Valley private investigator Rich Robertson said automated background check systems can be problematic.
“They are notoriously incomplete, unreliable, and then you combine it with a faulty input. In this case his name was entered incorrectly. Combine that with the problems of these databases, and these are the kind of results you wind up with. Innocent people being snagged into being wrongly accused,” Robertson said.
Father calls for accountability, systemic fix
Castillo said he believes background check systems can play a role in protecting children, but that the process needs to be executed correctly. He said the only explanation he received from the district was that his middle name and physical characteristics matched something in the system.
Arizona’s Family has reached out to the district with additional questions about the vendor and the circumstances of the match. The vendor identified by the school has also been contacted.
District’s response
The Deer Valley Unified School District issued a statement about the incident, apologizing for the mistake. The district said the system used to screen visitors has been updated to prevent a future mistake.
The school’s full statement is below:
Student safety is our top priority in the Deer Valley Unified School District. As part of our ongoing safety efforts, the district is implementing the Verkada Guest visitor management system districtwide during the 2026-27 school year, following successful pilot programs at several schools during the 2025-26 school year. Information about the system has been shared with families through the district’s back-to-school communications and website.
Verkada Guest screens visitors against publicly available sex offender registries during the check-in process. Before submitting identification, visitors are notified that their information will be screened against public databases. The district does not access or verify Social Security numbers through the system.
Recently, there was a situation in which the system generated a potential match based on similarities between information on a parent’s driver’s license and information contained in a public registry. Out of an abundance of caution, the parent was asked to remain off campus while staff reviewed the alert. School was not in session at the time.
District staff confirmed that the parent was not the individual identified in the registry and resolved the matter in approximately one hour and 15 minutes. The district then contacted the parent, explained what had occurred, and apologized. The system was also updated to help prevent a similar mistaken match during future visits.
Verkada Guest is one layer of the district’s campus safety procedures. All potential matches are reviewed by school or district staff, and the district will continue working to verify and resolve alerts as promptly and respectfully as possible.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2026 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
