An Australian childcare worker has been charged with more than 1,600 sexual offenses involving children in what law enforcement officials have described as “horrifying” and “beyond the imagination”.
According to CBS News, an unidentified 45-year-old man has been charged with a total of 1,623 counts, including 136 counts of rape, 110 counts of having sex with a child under the age of 10 and 613 counts of producing child pornography. there is report.
A 45-year-old Gold Coast man has been charged with more than 1,600 counts of sexually abusing 91 children. https://t.co/TUhbCYjcGD #7 News pic.twitter.com/Rq4dslktUe
— 7NEWS Australia (@7NewsAustralia) August 1, 2023
Investigators began searching for the suspect in 2014 after discovering a large cache of child pornography shared on the dark web, the report said. CBS News reported that their years of efforts to find the perpetrators were in vain until August 2022, when investigators were able to match visual clues in the background of the images to a daycare center in Brisbane. Turns out it was. (Related: 50-year prison sentence for daycare worker who used children to create child pornography, Justice Department announced)
Initially, the suspect was charged with just three crimes, but as police investigated, Federal Police Commissioner Justin Goff said the full gravity of the situation had become more apparent.
“This is horrifying and shocking news for parents,” Goff said, according to the newspaper.
Investigators believe the suspect cataloged all the alleged crimes with video or photographs worth more than 4,000 pieces of evidence. Police also allege that the suspect abused victims, including a one-year-old child, over a 15-year period, with 91 victims, the paper said.
“What this man did to these children is beyond anyone’s comprehension. The New South Wales Assistant Chief of Police, Michael Fitzgerald, said, ‘I’ve been in the police for a long time,’ according to the paper. “I can only say I’m trying not to be shocked because I’ve been there, but this is a terrifying incident.”
Abuse is believed to have occurred at 10 day care centers in Queensland and New South Wales between 2007 and 2022. The suspect was hired at the facility after going through a stringent series of background checks.
CBS News reports that he is scheduled to appear in Queensland court on August 21, after which he will be extradited to New South Wales to face further charges.
