Englishtown Man Gets 20 Years For Producing Child Porn Films

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ — An Englishtown man was sentenced Thursday 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, pleaded guilty in December before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan to one count of an indictment charging him with production of child pornography.

Sheridan imposed the sentence in the case on Thursday in Trenton federal court.

The charge of production of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine, the office said at the time of the guilty plea.

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, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

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, authorities said.

Law enforcement officials initially linked the videos to Importuna through business records indicating that they were sent from his Englishtown residence, authorities said.

The investigation linked Importuna to the production of the images through physical identifiers that were visible in the subject videos, according to authorities.

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

Sellinger credited special agents of 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 the sentencing.

The government was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Shawn Barnes, Chief of the Narcotics/Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Unit in Newark.

Defense counsel was Carol Dominguez, assistant federal public defender, Newark.