School rocked by cluster of child exploitation charges
A FORMER employee of a school in Tasmania’s NorthWest has been charged with more than 30 child exploitation offences.
Police said the 31-year-old from Somerset had been working in a non-teaching role at the school and had previously been stood down in July after being charged with one count of possessing child exploitation material.
A statement on behalf of the school said the offences related to 29 girls under the age of 18, with 18 of them being students at the school.
“The [school] community is shocked at the magnitude of the situation arising from the charges laid against a former [school] employee and announced today by Tasmania
Police,” the school principal said on Wednesday.
“The former employee has been fully stood down from the [school], and has not been at the [school] since we were first advised of the investigation.”
The school principal said a number of students and staff had accessed the services of a counsellor as part of the school’s response.
“This is a trying time for our students, staff and community. I ask that we respect all involved and impacted as part of this legal process,” he said.
Police said they had launched an investigation after a report of inappropriate contact online with a person under 18.
As a result, investigators executed a search warrant at the man’s address in July and multiple electronic devices were seized.
Police said detectives had spoken to a number of young people in the North and North-West who reportedly received online contact from the man through fake social media accounts.
The man was charged with 23 counts of attempting to involve a person under the age of 18 in the production of child exploitation material and six counts of involving a person under the age of 18 in the production of child exploitation material.
He was also charged with four counts of possessing child exploitation material and two of possession prohibited visual recordings.
The man is due to appear in Burnie Magistrates’ Court this month.