Western Australian man jailed for sextortion of 286 victims

Editor’s Note: Audio clips of AFP Assistant Commissioner David McLean available via Hightail

A Perth man who forced 286 victims, including 180 children, from 20 different countries to perform sexually explicit acts on camera or video has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.

The 29-year-old man who posed as a teenage social media celebrity to lure children and young adults online was sentenced in Perth District Court today (27 August 2024) after pleading guilty in December 2023 to 119 charges relating to more than 550 incidents over 11 months.

In determining the sentence, the judge also took into account three other charges, representing 108 behavioral incidents.

According to AFP Assistant Commissioner David McLean, the scale of the predatory and exploitative crimes committed by the perpetrators makes it one of the worst cases of sextortion in history.

The AFP worked closely with the United States’ Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Interpol to investigate initial reports of an Australian man sexually abusing girls via social media.

During the investigation, AFP officers in Western Australia worked with police in several countries through the AFP’s international network to identify victims and check on their welfare.

The Western Australia Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (WA JACET), which is made up of AFP and the Western Australia Police Force (WAPF), launched an investigation in September 2019 and discovered the man was using multiple social media accounts to target victims.

He contacted young women whose accounts had visible friends lists and attempted to befriend them, before manipulating them into providing explicit content. He then blackmailed them into providing increasingly sexual and degrading videos by threatening to send previous explicit content to their family and friends.

A victim from Canada told police she was just 13 when someone she thought was a 15-year-old social media celebrity contacted her online. Instead, it was the Perth man, who asked her a series of sexually explicit questions before sending doctored screenshots of the conversation that showed the victim entertaining his sexual fantasies.

The perpetrator then threatened to send the edited images to her friends and family if she did not comply with his demands for sexually explicit videos.

In some cases, the man forced victims to perform sexual acts on camera for himself and other strangers to watch, in one case as many as 98 other people. He also conversed online with other child abusers, sharing sextortion strategies and providing details about children who were vulnerable to blackmail and abuse.

WA JACET first executed a search warrant at the man’s Parkwood home in September 2019. The AFP seized electronic devices including a mobile phone, computer hard drives and USBs for examination. He was charged by the WAPF with a separate child abuse offence.

The AFP first charged the man, then 25, in September 2020 and filed further charges in 2021.

Since September 2019, the AFP, with the assistance of Commonwealth prosecutors, has been examining the man’s stored online chat records, videos and photographs. Meanwhile, AFP investigators have been working with international law enforcement partners to identify the victims and the extent of the sexual exploitation and abuse.

Because the man targeted multiple young women at once, police had to separate thousands of pages of slurred text messages from the social media accounts to ensure all offenses could be identified.

Assistant Commissioner McLean said the man’s appalling actions and his callous disregard for the visible distress, humiliation and fear of his victims made it one of the most appalling cases of sextortion prosecuted in Australia.

“This kind of online exploitation and abuse is devastating and causes lifelong trauma,” he said.

“The predator, through his façade of a social media celebrity, manipulated and exploited 286 children and young adults for his own sadistic pleasure. Most of these victims were in their own homes, a place where they should have felt safe.

“Sextortion can escalate in minutes. We encourage parents and caregivers to talk to their children regularly about their online activities so they feel comfortable asking for help when they need it. We also want to remind people never to share personal information with people they have only met online.”

Deputy Commissioner McLean said the investigation highlighted the importance of international law enforcement agencies working together to combat online sexual exploitation of children and adults.

“Thanks to information from Interpol and HSI about an Australian who was sexually exploiting girls in other countries, the AFP was able to identify this man and prevent him from harming anyone else.

“During the investigation, AFP officers worked with police in several countries to identify victims and check on their welfare, and passed on information about other perpetrators who had had contact with this man.

“Our shared goal is to protect children wherever they live and to ensure that anyone who tries to harm them is identified and brought to justice.

“I want to recognize the dedication of the investigators who worked tirelessly to bring this man to justice and prevent him from harming anyone else.”

Ernest Verina, Attaché of Homeland Security Investigations, said HSI remains steadfast in its mission to protect victims of child exploitation.

“HSI will always stand with Australia on a global scale to hold to account those who commit these horrific crimes against our children,” said HSI Attaché Verina.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) prosecuted this case and supported many victims through the Witness Support Service.

The man victims of exploitation and abuse from 20 countries: Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Guam, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Namibia, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Panama, South Africa, Spain and the Netherlands.

He pleaded guilty to:

• 55 counts of using a transportation service to transmit child pornography to oneself, in violation of Section 474.19C of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth);
• 33 charges of causing a child to engage in sexual activity (other than intercourse) outside Australia in the presence of the offender, contrary to section 272.9(2) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth);
• 15 counts of using transportation services for sexual activity with a child under 16 years of age, in violation of Section 474.25A(1) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth);
• Seven counts of sexual coercion of a person, contrary to Article 327 of the Criminal Code Composition Act 1913 (United States);
• Three charges of persistent sexual abuse of a child outside Australia, contrary to section 272.11(1) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth);
• Two charges of causing a child to have sexual intercourse outside Australia in the presence of the offender, contrary to section 272.8(2) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth);
• Two counts of using transportation services in preparation for harming, or engaging in sexual activity with, or procuring sexual activity with, persons under the age of 16, in violation of Section 474.25C of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth);
• One count of using transportation services to threaten, harass or scandalize, in violation of section 474.17(1) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth); And
• One count of producing child exploitation material, contrary to Article 218 of the Criminal Code Composition Act 1913 (WA).

The judge who imposed the sentence also took into account these three charges:

• One count of using a transportation service to care for a child under the age of 16, in violation of section 474.27(1) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth);
• One charge of preparing a child to engage in sexual activity outside Australia, contrary to section 272.15(1) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth); and
• One count of using a transportation service to obtain child pornography, contrary to section 474.19(1)(a)(iv) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth).

The man was sentenced to nine years of unconditional release.

Sextortion:

Some signs that indicate sextortion are online friend requests from strangers or people pretending to be friends with your friends, sudden sexually suggestive questions, conversations or photos from a random profile asking for sextortion.

If you think you are a victim of sextortion or if you know someone who is a victim of sextortion, please consider the following:

• Stop the chat
• Take screenshots of the text and profile
• Block the account and report it to the platform
• Seek support from a trusted friend or family member, or from professional counselors, and seek mental health care if necessary. Children’s Helpline offers free and confidential sessions with counselors.
• Report the crime at the ACCCE
• Do NOT send any more images or pay as this will lead to more demands
• Do NOT respond to demands
• Do NOT respond to further communications
• Don’t think you’re alone

If you are concerned about your safety or that of someone else, call Triple Zero (000) or contact your local police station.

The AFP and its partners are committed to ending child exploitation and abuse and the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) promotes a collaborative national approach to combating child abuse.

The ACCCE brings together specialist expertise and skills in a central hub, supports investigations into online child sexual exploitation and develops prevention strategies aimed at creating a safer online environment.

Members of the public who have information about people involved in child abuse are urged to contact the ACCCE. If you know of any current abuse or a child at risk, call the police immediately on 000.

If you or someone you know is experiencing child sexual abuse and online exploitation, there is support available.

Research conducted by the ACCCE in 2020 revealed that only around half of parents talked to their children about online safety. Advice and support for parents and carers on how to help protect children online can be found on the ThinkUKnow website, an AFP-led educational programme designed to prevent child sexual exploitation online.

For more information about the role of the ACCCE, what online child sexual exploitation is and how to report it, please visit ACCCE website.