Brick Man Who Sent Nudes To Detective Posing As Teen Girl Sentenced

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Brick Township man has been sentenced to state prison for sending nude photos of himself to a person he thought was a 14-year-old girl, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Monday.

Christian M. Kohl, 48, was sentenced on Friday to five years in state prison with five years of parole ineligibility by Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan for his guilty plea to distribution of child sexual abuse material, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Kohl's sentence also is subject to the terms of Megan’s Law and includes parole supervision for life for his guilty plea on March 25 before Ryan, the prosecutor's office said.h

Kohl was arrested in August 2024 after authorities investigating tips about a person sending and receiving child pornography identified Kohl's address as the one where the images were being shared, the prosecutor's office said.

As part of the investigation, a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl on an undercover chat investigation on the Kik messenger service had conversations from May through August 2024 with a user who identified himself as a 38-year-old man, the prosecutor's office said.

During the conversations the user sent "numerous inappropriate nude photos and videos of himself" to the detective, in spite of the detective repeatedly telling the user "she" was a 14-year-old girl, authorities said.

The user was ultimately identified as Kohl.

A search of Kohl's home and an initial forensic examination of Kohl’s cell phone by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit led to the discovery of several items of child pornography, authorities said.

Authorities determined that Kohl had sent or shared more than 25 items of child sexual abuse to various users on Kik, the prosecutor's office said.

Kohl was arrested and taken to the Ocean County Jail, and later released under New Jersey's bail reform rules.

Previous coverage:

Brick Man Sent Nudes To Detective Posing As Teen Girl: Prosecutor

Brick Man Admits Sending Nudes To Detective Posing As Teen Girl