Jail for online sex offender
Belmont man grooms girl, 15
A GEELONG sex pest has been jailed for six months after grooming a child online.
Timothy Tabor, 21, was sentenced to the prison term on Monday, along with a community correction order.
It came as a magistrate flagged her “greatest fear” the Belmont man would continue to commit similar crimes once out of jail.
Tabor has been in custody since May, when he was arrested for targeting a 15year-old girl for sex.
In July last year, Tabor used popular social media platform Snapchat to send the teen a series of explicit messages.
They included images of his genitalia and invitations for sex.
At one stage, when the victim reminded Tabor she was only 15, he wrote: “I know. Do you want me to do that stuff?”
Tabor was already a registered sex offender at the time, with prior convictions related to grooming children.
Prosecutor Alana Groves told Geelong Magistrates’ Court Tabor was either “unwilling or unable” to stop offending.
She said he had disregarded the opportunities he had been given to rehabilitate through correction orders.
Defence lawyer Niamh Harrington said Tabor was still young and his time in custody had been “extremely difficult and eye-opening”.
She urged the court to consider sentencing Tabor to the 71 days he had already spent in jail. But magistrate Ann McGarvie said further prison time was warranted.
“Despite Mr Tabor’s age, this is extremely concerning offending,” she said.
While the court heard Tabor had a cognitive impairment, Ms McGarvie said there were signs Tabor knew that what he was doing was “wrong”.
She highlighted the fact Tabor admitted deleting his social media accounts whenever police came to check on his compliance with the sex offenders’ register.
Despite imposing jail, Ms McGarvie said she was concerned Tabor would fail to learn his lesson.
“My greatest fear is that he will continue to reoffend and then there will be no other future options than longer terms of imprisonment,” she said.
Once Tabor is released from jail, he must serve a twoyear community correction order.
He was also put on the sex offenders’ register for life.