Wantagh man sentenced for assaulting toddler, creating chat room for predators, feds say

A Wantagh man was sentenced to 28 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to child pornography and sexual assault charges for abusing a toddler.

Christopher Bertsch, 38, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Central Islip by Eastern District Judge Joanna Seybert after pleading guilty in November 2020 to sexual exploitation of a child.

Prosecutors said Bertsch molested an 18-month-old toddler and filmed sexual acts to share with others. Authorities said he ran an online chat room where he gave other adults instructions on how to sexually abuse children. Bertsch allowed people into his chat room, “requiring photographic proof with a minor under their control.”

“Today’s sentence removes a dangerous predator who not only abused minors and created videos of it but, horrifically, also operated a chat room where he instructed adults on how to abuse minors and to create and share images of it,” Eastern District United States Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. “The outstanding undercover work of the FBI made this prosecution possible. I urge parents and caregivers to encourage their children to tell a trusted adult if anyone asks them to engage in inappropriate behavior."

Bertsch must also register as a sex offender when he is released from prison, authorities said, and have no unsupervised contact with minors.

Police with the Long Island Child Exploitation Task Force served a search warrant in February 2020 at Bertsch's home with his wife, after finding he shared videos in a chat room he called Kik, according to a criminal complaint.

Police said Bertsch shared child pornography with an undercover officer in the chat room. Police seized his collection of child pornography, “including dozens of videos and hundreds of images of child pornography depicting him engaged in sexual conduct with children,” prosecutors said.

His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

U.S. attorney’s officials said the case was brought with Project Safe Childhood, made up of U.S. marshals and state and local authorities who help prosecute individuals for exploiting children and rescue children from sexual abuse and child pornography.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.