Christopher Kenji Bendann, a former Baltimore teacher, was sentenced to a 35-year federal prison term following his conviction on multiple charges of child sexual abuse. The U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar handed down the punishment, including a lifetime of supervised release for the 40-year-old. According to a press release from the Department of Justice, Bendann faced a three-day trial that resulted in a guilty verdict from the federal jury for five counts of sexual exploitation of a child, three counts of possession of child sexual abuse material, and one count of cyberstalking.
Bendann's conviction stemmed from illicit activities carried out from September 2017 to February 2019. During this period, he produced multiple videos of a minor male, who was one of his students at The Gilman School and engaged in sexually explicit conduct with him. The authorities discovered the videos on Bendann's iCloud, as well as additional child-sexual-abuse content on his electronic devices at the time of his arrest. Furthermore, Bendann cyberstalked his victim between May and December 2022, threatening to publicly release explicit images unless the victim continued to send him such material.
The actions leading to Bendann's downfall were part of Project Safe Childhood, a national initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice. The project aims to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse by coordinating efforts across federal, state, and local agencies. Officials work to locate and rescue victims and to apprehend and prosecute those who exploit children.
In his efforts, U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron praised the collaborative work of the FBI, Baltimore County Police Department, and the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office in the investigation and prosecution of this case. Barron specifically thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Colleen Elizabeth McGuinn and Kim Y. Hagan for prosecuting the federal case, and he recognized Paralegal Specialist Julie Jarman for her assistance.
