A man has been charged after allegedly grooming an underage teenager online for sex following an investigation by detectives from the State Crime Command’s Sex Crimes Squad.
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 Clarence Valley.
Police will allege in court the man believed he was speaking to a 15-year-old girl and engaged in numerous sexually explicit conversations with the teen.
Just before 10am today (Wednesday 24 May 2017), strike force detectives arrested the 37-year-old man at Yamba, and executed a search warrant at a home in Maclean.
The man was taken to Maclean Police Station and charged with using a carriage service to groom persons under 16.
He was granted strict conditional bail and is due to appear at Grafton Local Court on Monday 5 June 2017.
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 on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au/
