TRENTON, N.J. (1010 WINS) – Officials on Thursday announced that a New Jersey man admitted to knowingly receiving child pornography after posing as a teenager on Facebook, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig.
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.
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.
According to court documents, Jensen created a fake Facebook account, pretending to be a teenaged boy named "Kevin Bennett."
From January 2018 through August 2018, officials said 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 also received increasingly explicit videos depicting the victim engaging in sexually explicit activity, authorities said.
In August of 2018, Jensen revealed to the victim that he was not the 17-year-old boy he alleged to be, but instead an adult named Chris Jensen.
The victim, however, continued to communicate with Jensen via the "Chris Jensen" Facebook account and traveled to New Jersey to live with Jensen in December 2018, officials added.
Local authorities removed the victim from Jensen's residence on Dec.19, 2018.
Jensen is scheduled for sentencing on September 14, 2021.
If convicted, 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.
