German man gets 20 years in prison for traveling to NJ for sex with children

A man from Germany has been sentenced to two decades in prison for traveling to New Jersey to have sex with children.

40-year-old Christian Stefan Walther of Erfurt, Germany, previously pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

Earlier this week, he was sentenced to 240 months, or 20 years, behind bars.

According to federal officials, law enforcement authorities began investigating Walther around January 2023 for child exploitation offenses. Two undercover officers communicated with Walther via email, phone, and an encrypted messaging app concerning his desire for sexual encounters with young children.

Walther sent an undercover officer two videos, each of which depicted an adult male engaging in sexual conduct with a prepubescent aged female child. Walther also expressed his desire to engage in sexual conduct with children aged 8 to 12, described in graphic detail the sex acts he planned to commit against the children, and explained that he had lied to his friends in Germany about the purpose of his trip to the United States. Walther agreed to pay U.S. currency for access to the children.

On March 23rd, 2023, Walther traveled from Germany to New Jersey to meet the undercover officers in advance of what he believed would be a sexual encounter with one or more children at a hotel. Upon his arrest, he admitted that he traveled to the United States to have sex with kids under 12.

U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger thanked special agents of the Department of Homeland Security and the New Jersey State Police for their work in this case.