By: Yuritza Arroyo
Atlantic County authorities announced that Christian Navarrete, 39, of Mays Landing, was sentenced on Tuesday, February 14, 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.
According to officials, Navarrete was sentenced 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.
Officials say Navarrete previously pled guilty on December 6. Navarrete admitted that on or between July 18, 2017, and December 15, 2019, in his home in Hamilton Township, he committed numerous acts of sexual penetration on the victim.
Navarrete further admitted that he filmed the victim while engaged in those acts, and he stored the videos on his cell phone.
According to Hamilton Township Police, on December 19, 2019, Detectives, 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.
Police say 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 Navarette’s cell phone and observed that he 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 Navarette’s sexual assault and filming of the victim constituted an extreme violation of her trust.
The Judge pointed out that the sentence was warranted because the defendant posed a risk of reoffending, and there was a need to deter him, being that his criminal actions took place over the course of six years. According to a report from the Adult Diagnostic Treatment Center, Navarette's sexual behavior was compulsively and repetitively performed.
Therefore, the Judge 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.