diff --git a/tools/import.cpp b/tools/import.cpp
index de20fbb295e..0e12757d0be 100644
--- a/tools/import.cpp
+++ b/tools/import.cpp
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include "db/json.h"
 
 #include "tool.h"
+#include "../util/text.h"
 
 #include <fstream>
 #include <iostream>
@@ -53,6 +54,8 @@ class Import : public Tool {
     }
     
     BSONObj parseLine( char * line ){
+        uassert(13289, "Invalid UTF8 character detected", isValidUTF8(line));
+
         if ( _type == JSON ){
             char * end = ( line + strlen( line ) ) - 1;
             while ( isspace(*end) ){