PERVERT BUSTED IN TEEN SNAPCHAT STING

A CORIO man is facing prison after he was caught grooming a Snapchat user he mistakenly thought was a 14-year-old girl.

Matthew King was 26 when he engaged in a series of conversations with an undercover police officer on the social media platform.

Over a three-week period in July last year, King sent a string of salacious messages, including an image of his genitalia and suggestions the pair could enter a relationship.

He pleaded guilty in the County Court yesterday to using a carriage service to groom a person believed to be under 16 years, and transmitting indecent communication to a child.

He also pleaded guilty to cultivating a narcotic plant and drug possession.

Court documents reveal King and the covert operative started conversing on Snapchat on July 4 last year, when the officer introduced themself as a 14-year-old girl.

King said he was 21 and soon asked if they wanted him to send a “d--- pic”.

He later sent an image and stated: “Here’s what my c--looks like.”

King asked about the girl’s breasts, including her bra size, while he also sought explicit details about whether she had engaged in sexual activity.

When the other user responded she had never had a boyfriend, he said: “I’ll be your first . . . Would u go out with me babe.”

He then discussed arranging a meeting.

The court documents reveal King provided the other user with his mobile phone number, which police later used to pin him as the offender.

Detectives raided his home on January 6, seizing his phone along with a 40cm-high cannabis plant growing in a shed.

King has been in custody since his arrest.

The grooming charge carries a maximum penalty of 12 years’ jail, while his guilty pleas will put him to be on the sex offenders’ register for 15 years.

Judge Sarah Dawes remanded King until sentencing on a date to be fixed.