Ocean County Man Sentenced For Multiple Child Pornography Offenses

Friday, May 2, 2025, 12:00 P.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

TRENTON, NJ.- A 37-year-old Brick, New Jersey man will be spending the next decade and a half in federal prison after he was sentenced on Wednesday for receiving and distributing video files depicting two children engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

     According to U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, Christopher Budelman, 37, of Brick, New Jersey, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Zahid N. Quraishi to 180 months in federal prison, to be followed by ten years of supervised release for his previously entered guilty plea to federal child pornography violations.

     Budelman previously appeared in Federal Court in Trenton, New Jersey, and pleaded guilty before Judge Quraishi to a criminal information charging him with two counts of Receipt of Child Pornography; and one count of Distribution of Child Pornography.

According To Charging Information

     According to charging documents filed with the district court, in June 2022, while communicating via an online video chat application, Budelman enticed two children to engage in sexually explicit conduct while he sexually pleasured himself. Budelman recorded and saved those video chats on his computer. Additionally, from in or around September 2021 and lasting through June 2022, Budelman used two Kik Messenger accounts to send digital images and video files depicting the sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of prepubescent children to others.

     U.S. Attorney Alina Habba commended the investigative work of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit, the New Jersey State Police, and the Brick Township Police Department for the investigation which led to Budelman’s successful prosecution.