Claims of global reach
ALLEGED CHILD SEX RING LEADER ON NEW CHARGES
THE alleged leader of a child sex ring busted in a Townsville suburb has been charged with more offences.
Stephen Ross Lane, 62, was initially arrested and charged in July for his alleged lead role in operating a child abuse ring out of Kelso, where he allegedly abused young girls.
Police will allege three girls, aged between three years old and 15, were subjected to abuse and used as sexual servants over the past two years.
Two women – the mother of a six-year-old complainant and an aunty to another two complainants – were allegedly a part of the ring, and willingly exchanged the girls, according to the police.
Mr Lane, who lives in Kelso, and the two women were charged with 32 combined offences, including servitude, extortion and child exploitation at the time of their arrest in July.
The Townsville Child Protection and Investigation Unit charged the man last week with 12 further offences, which include eight charges of making child exploitation material using two of the local complainants.
He has also been charged with three Commonwealth offences, which include one count of encouraging a sexual offence against a child outside of Australia and using a carriage service to groom another person to make it
easier to procure a child.
Police will allege these charges relate to Mr Lane allegedly trying to groom an adult living in another country into making child abuse material and sending it to him.
It will be alleged he kept the material for himself.
Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Miles said the allega
tions were serious, and they had worked with multiple international agencies on the matter.
Police initially closed in on Mr Lane after a three-month investigation, labelled Operation Tango Rosetta.
Police will allege he and his offsiders exchanged the girls, and then extorted people for money, amounting to $50,000 worth of transactions.
Mr Lane and the mother, 41, remain in custody, while the 38-year-old aunty is on bail. Police will allege they went to great lengths to cover their tracks, deleting messages off each other’s phones and taking steps to remove photos. Mr Lane will face court again on October 8.