Monmouth County Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Producing Child Pornography

TRENTON, N.J. – A Monmouth County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 240 months in prison for producing multiple videos depicting him sexually assaulting a minor, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Christian Importuna, 27, of Englishtown, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan to one count of an indictment charging him with production of child pornography. Judge Sheridan imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In March 2020, Importuna produced at least two videos that showed him sexually assaulting a pre-pubescent victim. The videos came to the attention of law enforcement on March 24, 2020, when Importuna attempted to trade images of child pornography with an undercover law enforcement official on an internet-based application. Law enforcement officials initially linked the videos to Importuna through business records indicating that they were sent from his Englishtown residence. The investigation linked Importuna to the production of the images through physical identifiers that were visible in the subject videos.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Sheridan sentenced Importuna to lifetime supervised release and ordered him to pay $28,000 in restitution.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents the FBI Newark Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant United States Attorney Shawn Barnes, Chief of the OCDETF/Narcotics Unit in Newark.