Air Force Airman Pleads Guilty to Receiving Child Pornography

TRENTON, N.J. - An Airman with the United States Air Force pled guilty to receiving child pornography on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Senior Counsel Philip Lamparello announced today.

Christian Keilberg, 34, of Ocean County, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Georgette Castner today, in Trenton federal court, to an information charging him with receipt of child pornography. Sentencing is scheduled for June 18, 2026.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From November 2020 through November 2022, while Keilberg was an enlisted active-duty Airman with the United States Department of the Air Force living and working on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Keilberg used online chat applications and social media to communicate with minor victims located within and outside of New Jersey. Keilberg exchanged sexually explicit messages with the minor victims and asked them to send him images and videos of themselves engaging in sexually explicit conduct, which they did. A search of Keilberg's electronic devices found in his on-base housing revealed additional videos and images of child pornography. Keilberg received more than 600 images of child pornography, including depictions of minors between twelve and fifteen years old.

The charge of receipt of child pornography is punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Senior Counsel Lamparello credited special agents of the United States Department of the Air Force, Office of Special Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Rebecca B. Bates, with the investigation. He also credited the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office for their assistance.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) in the Justice Department's Criminal Division, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit: https://www.justice.gov/pscLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracey Agnew of the U.S. Attorney's Office Criminal Division in Trenton.

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Defense counsel: Andrea Aldana, Esq., Trenton, New Jersey