Alleged child sex offender Lance Reed, 47, in court with broken ribs after arrest

A man arrested in an early-morning sting over alleged child sex offences has appeared in court nursing a punctured lung sustained during an arrest, a magistrate has heard.

An alleged child sex offender from Huntfield Heights, who told an undercover police officer he would “love to f**k a 13-year-old girl”, has been refused bail.

Lance Reed, 47, a full-time delivery driver, appeared in the Christies Beach Magistrates Court on Friday in front of Magistrate Natalie Brown via a bedside hearing, nursing broken ribs and a punctured lung suffered during his Thursday morning arrest.

The court heard Mr Reed, charged with one count of making a child amenable to sexual activity and seven counts of disseminate child exploitation material, allegedly had a cloud-based storage consisting of thousands of illicit videos and images of children – which could lead to further charges.

"A wall in the office of the SA Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team's office keeps a tally of how many children their work has rescued. Picture: Courtesy of JACET."

Prosecution alleged on Sunday, January 28, an online covert police operative began a private chat with the defendant who stated that he was a “46-year-old bisexual from Adelaide’s south”.

“When asked what he was in to, the defendant stated he was in to ‘all things to do with kinky’,” the prosecution said.

“The defendant disseminates three sexual images of female teenage girls before asking for the same type of images to be sent in return.

Reed was arrested at 6:11am on Thursday morning outside a public toilet block after he was found inside a public cubicle.

His mobile phone was seized and he was subsequently asked to provide his passcode.

“During the initial on-scene triage, police located the communication with the defendant and the undercover operative,” the prosecution said.

“Further to this, police located a cloud-based storage which contains thousands of videos and images of children being sexually abused.”

“So there may be further charges to come?” asked Ms Brown.

“Yes, Your Honour,” the prosecution replied.

Reed’s mother attended court in person on Friday, visibly distressed and seen burying her head in her hands after Ms Browne denied her son bail in order to prevent further offending and to protect the safety of the community.

She noted that further charges may occur and ordered Mr Reed to appear again in mid-August at the Adelaide Magistrates Court.

Mr Reed was arrested by detectives from SA’s Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team.