One minute reading time
BRICK – A 46-year-old township man has been charged with possession of child sexual abuse images and other related offenses, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.
Christian Kohl was charged on Thursday with possession of child pornography, attempted endangerment of the welfare of a child and attempted provision of obscene material to minors, Billhimer said.
From May to August, a criminal investigator conducted an undercover investigation into the messaging service Kik. The investigator, disguised as a 14-year-old girl, held discussions with Kohl, according to a statement from the public prosecutor’s office.
During these chats, Kohl believed he was sending messages to the underage girl and sent a series of “inappropriate nude photos and videos of himself,” the statement said.
Earlier this week: Prosecutor: 56-year-old vocational school teacher had sexual contact with student
In addition, an investigation by the state attorney’s office’s High Tech Crime Unit found that an IP address associated with Kohl’s home in Brick was the location from which he accessed child sexual abuse images on the Internet, prosecutors said.
The investigation was the result of a referral from the New Jersey State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the statement said.
On Thursday, detectives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Monmouth County District Attorney’s Office and Brick Police executed a search warrant on Kohl’s Brick residence and took him into custody, prosecutors said.
Kohl is in the Ocean County Jail pending his detention hearing.
Contact Asbury Park Press reporter Erik Larsen at [email protected].
