A man will face court today for allegedly grooming a child online after being arrested by detectives from the Sex Crimes Squad last month, NSW Police say.
The Sex Crimes Squad’s Child Exploitation Internet Unit (CEIU) conducts ongoing investigations into the sexual abuse and exploitation of children online under Strike Force Trawler.
In November 2016, strike force officers began engaging online with a man from the state’s far west.
Police will allege in court the man believed he was speaking to a 13-year-old boy and engaged in numerous sexually explicit conversations with the child, and discussed the possibility of meeting up.
About 9.45am on Thursday 20 April 2017, the 25-year-old man was arrested by strike force detectives at a home at Menindee.
Detectives executed a search warrant at the home, where they seized a mobile phone, a computer, and electronic storage devices.
The man was taken to Menindee Police Station and charged with using a carriage service to groom persons under 16.
He was granted conditional bail to appear at Broken Hill Local Court tomorrow.
Strike Force Trawler is an ongoing Child Exploitation Internet Unit (CEIU) investigation into the sexual abuse and exploitation of children facilitated through the internet and related telecommunications devices.
Regular covert online investigations are conducted by the Child Exploitation Internet Unit and police in NSW work closely with their law-enforcement colleagues interstate and overseas.
Anyone with information about internet predators should call Crime Stoppers.
