Brick Man Who Recorded Child Sex Acts Sentenced To Federal Prison

TRENTON, NJ — A Brick Township man has been sentenced to federal prison for receiving and distributing child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Christopher Budelman, 37, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi on two counts of receiving child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography. He had previously pleaded guilty before Quraishi in Trenton federal court.

Authorities said that between September 2021 and June 2022, Budelman enticed at least two children — girls ages 12 and 13, both of whom lived outside New Jersey — to engage in sexually explicit conduct via video chats while he masturbated. Budelman recorded the video chats and saved them on his computer and gave the girls instructions on what he wanted them to do.

In addition, Budelman used two Kik messenger accounts to send explicit videos to other people. The videos included two showing adults sexually abusing young children, and one involving children under age 11 engaged in sex acts, authorities said.

Budelman had been identified after the New Jersey State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force found a person was uploading child sexual abuse images to the internet using Kik, authorities said. The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit traced the messages to a Verizon Wireless account and to Budelman, authorities said.

A search of Budelman's home on Sept. 27, 2022, led to the seizure of a desktop computer, the hard drive of which had nine videos of child sexual abuse, the prosecutor's office said.

It was then detectives learned Budelman was out of the country, and an arrest warrant was issued for him and entered into the National Crime Information Center Database, authorities said. He was arrested Oct. 4, 2022, at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York as he returned from a trip out of the country.

In addition to the prison term, Quraishi sentenced Budelman to 10 years of supervised release, authorities said.

Previous reporting:

• Brick Man Sent Child Porn Via Messaging App: Prosecutor
• Brick Man Recorded, Shared Child Sex Videos, Federal Authorities Say