Two men from New Jersey are facing significant time in state prison after a Monmouth County resident was caught producing child porn and a Camden County resident was charged for sex trafficking minors.

An Englishtown (Monmouth County) man is looking at a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in state prison when sentenced in April of 2023 upon admitting in court that he produced child porn videos that showed him sexually assaulting a minor, according to U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger.

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Christian Importuna, 27, was charged with production of child pornography stemming from two videos that came out in March of 2020 of him with allegedly sexually assaulting a pre-pubescent girl.

He then allegedly sent the videos, images from his home, where they were filmed, to who turned out to be an undercover law enforcement officer on an internet app, according to Sellinger.

In addition to the prison sentence, Importuna is looking at paying a fine of $250,000.

Attorney Sellinger said that in this case, the government is represented by Assistant United States Attorney Shawn Barnes of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark and the defense counsel is Carol Dominguez Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Newark.

(Vin Ebenau, Townsquare Media NJ)
(Vin Ebenau, Townsquare Media NJ)
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In South Jersey, a Camden man was in federal court for the first time on Tuesday to face charges for sex trafficking minors, according to Sellinger.

The 32 year old Semaj A. Gilmore, who has been jailed since April of 2021, is officially charged with three counts of sex trafficking a minor and three counts of committing a sex offense as a registered sex offender.

Gilmore is accused of advertising the identity of a missing girl from Pennsylvania on a website "that is often used to advertise acts of prostitution" and upon seeing this, an undercover agent contacted the phone number on the advertisement, exchanged messages and set up a meet with the Camden man in April of 2021, according to Sellinger.

Former NJ Child Protection Agency Case Worker sentenced to 20-years for producing child porn
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The meet was to be at a motel room in Mount Laurel where Gilmore wanted to allegedly "engage in sexual activities in exchange for cash" and asked who turned out to be the undercover agent to "get condoms" and confirm that they weren't "a cop" and then suddenly, police entered the room, according to Sellinger, but Gilmore was waiting in a car in a neighboring parking lot, and took off.

He was pulled over, police seized his phone and Gilmore was arrested.

This wasn't the first time the previous sex offender became engaged in sex trafficking, according to Sellinger, as investigators learned that between September 2020 and April 2021 he trafficked two other victims and was looking to "engage in commercial sex acts".

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Gilmore faces a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison for each count of sex trafficking of a minor and pay a fine of up to $250,000 which would run consecutively with him committing a sex offense as a registered sex offender where he's looking at 10 years in prison and a similar fine.

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In this case, Attorney Sellinger said that the government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Bender of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Camden and that the defense counsel is Troy Archie Esq., Cinnaminson, New Jersey.

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A roundup of 31 men have been accused of sexually exploiting children online, state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced on July 14 while detailing "Operation 24/7."

The suspects “possessed and or distributed videos and images of child sexual abuse, including in many cases videos of young children being raped by adults,” Grewal said.

Chat apps and gaming platforms remain favorite hunting grounds for child predators and even as the pandemic winds down, many children have continued to spend more time online.

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