BRICK – A Brick Township man has been sentenced to 180 months in prison for receiving and distributing child pornography, state officials said.
Christopher Budelman, 37, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography.
In or around June 2022, Budelman enticed two minors on an online video chat site to engage in sexually explicit conduct while he sexually pleasured himself. He recorded and saved those video chats on his computer, officials said.
Additionally, Budelman used two Kik Messenger accounts to send images and videos containing child pornography, including images and videos depicting prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, to others. This occurred from in or around September 2021 to in or around June 2022, officials said.
In addition to the prison term, the judge sentenced Budelman to 10 years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Alina Habba credited special agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, Atlantic City, New Jersey, under the direction of Special-Agent-in-Charge Ricky J. Patel in Newark; the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit, under the direction of Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer; New Jersey State Police, under the direction of Superintendent Col. Patrick J. Callahan; and Brick Township Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Forrester, with the investigation leading to this sentencing.
