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Christian Navarrete, 39, Sentenced to 25 Year Prison Term for Sexually Assaulting Minor

When his cell phone was analyzed,
Navarette admitted that he filmed the victim while engaged in sexual acts.

Christian Navarette

On February 14, 2023, Judge Bernard E. DeLury sentenced Christian Navarrete, 39, for the aggravated sexual assault of a minor, sexual assault of a minor, and for endangering the welfare of a child by filming her in a prohibited sexual act.

Judge DeLury sentenced Navarette to an aggregate of 25 years in New Jersey State Prison with an 85% period of parole ineligibility subject to the No Early Release Act.

Defendant previously pled guilty before the Honorable Donna Taylor, J.S.C. on December 6, 2022.

Between July 18, 2017 and December 15, 2019, Navarette admitted that he committed numerous acts of sexual penetration on the victim in his home.

Defendant further admitted that he filmed the victim while engaged in those acts and he stored the videos on his personal cell phone.

On December 19, 2019, Detectives from the Hamilton Township Police Department, with the assistance of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victim’s Unit (SVU), were notified as there was a report to the Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCP&P) regarding a sexual assault against a juvenile.

Once an interview of the victim was conducted and pursuant to an ongoing investigation, the High Technology Crimes Investigation Unit of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office was able to obtain and forensically analyze the defendant’s cell phone and observed that Navarrete had over 80 videos where he filmed the victim engaged in sexual actions with him.

Chief Assistant Prosecutor Erika Halayko represented the State in this matter. She noted that the victim was extremely brave in coming forward and that defendant’s actions of sexual assault and filming the victim constituted an extreme violation of her trust.

Judge DeLury pointed out that the sentence was warranted because the defendant posed a risk of reoffending and there was a need to deter the defendant, being that his criminal actions took place over the course of several years.

According to a report from the Adult Diagnostic Treatment Center, the defendant’s sexual behavior was compulsively and repetitively performed.

Therefore, Judge DeLury ruled that the defendant will serve his sentence at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center (ADTC) and receive sexual offender treatment while there.

The defendant’s other sentencing conditions are that he will be subject to Megan’s Law, Parole Supervision for Life, and will have no contact with the victim.