the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Union NJ, A Monmouth County, New Jersey, man today admitted to knowingly receiving child pornography, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced today.
Herman Christopher Jensen, 68, of Union Beach, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan to an information charging him with one count of knowingly receiving child pornography.
According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Special agents of the FBI began investigating Jensen for assuming the identity of a 17-year-old boy to entice and solicit an underage girl to send nude and sexually explicit images over the internet. Jensen did this by creating a fake Facebook account, purporting to be a teenaged boy named “Kevin Bennett.” From January 2018 through August 2018, Jensen used the “Kevin Bennett” Facebook account to communicate with the victim frequently, causing her to believe that she was involved in a romantic relationship with “Kevin Bennett.”
Jensen requested nude and semi-nude photographs from the victim through Facebook’s messenger service and the victim sent him images. Jensen received increasingly explicit videos depicting the victim engaging in sexually explicit activity.
In August of 2018, Jensen revealed to the victim that he was not the 17-year-old boy he purported to be, but instead an adult named Chris Jensen. The victim continued to communicate with Jensen via the “Chris Jensen” Facebook account. In December 2018, the victim traveled to New Jersey to live with Jensen. On Dec.19, 2018, local authorities removed the victim from Jensen’s residence.
The charge of knowingly receiving child pornography carries a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison, and a statutory maximum fine equal to the greatest of $250,000, or twice the gross amount of any pecuniary gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentencing is scheduled for September 14, 2021.
Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents and task force officers of the FBI and the Red Bank Resident Agencies Jersey Shore Gang and Criminal Organization Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr., with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. She also thanked the Union Beach, New Jersey, Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Michael J. Woodrow, for assistance in the investigation.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Perry Farhat of the Government Frauds Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Newark.
Defense counsel: John C. Feggeler Esq., Matawan, New Jersey