South Australians caught with sickening child abuse material
They are some of SA’s worst offenders with a sickening attraction to child abuse material. This is how they were busted.
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The stereotype holds that they are outwardly seamy characters, men in trench coats lurking in white vans and dark places.
But the sad truth is, many sex offenders don’t announce themself quite so obviously.
They come from all walks of life, all kinds of professional backgrounds.
As The Advertiser reported in April, 2021, more than 2100 South Australians are now being constantly monitored after being convicted of child sex offences.
They are husbands, fathers, teachers, accomplished businessmen, ostensibly upstanding members of their communities.
Some go into hiding, others are hiding in plain sight, getting away with their disgusting and horrifying crimes for months or years before being caught and brought to justice.
They include these South Australian men, who were caught with sickening material depicting the sexual abuse of innocent children over the past two years.
GEOFFREY WILLIAM MOYLE
Dubbed a “sex terrorist”, Moyle, aka “Waka”, is a paedophile whose child abuse videos and images helped start the dark web and who was praised by other perverts as the man “who wrote the Bible on child abuse”.
Moyle’s crimes were committed against child sex slaves and he was among the first paedophiles to upload the videos online for others to view.
He was finally apprehended by South Australia’s elite Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team after a 20-year international manhunt.
Moyle was jailed in 2021 for nearly a decade and backdated the sentence, meaning he would be eligible for parole in 2024.
But in June, 2022, the Court of Appeal revoked the original sentence and imposed a new sentence of 12 years, with a non-parole period of seven years, meaning Moyle will not be elible to apply for parole until February, 2027.
JADD WILLIAM BROOKER
Regarded as one of Australia’s worst-ever child sex offenders due to the sheer volume of his crimes, Brooker, 40, of Glenelg East, pleaded guilty to 182 crimes against children and teenagers nationally and around the world.
Brooker is HIV positive and admitted, online, to a desire to infect children and adults with the virus; that prompted one of his victims to take their own life.
He was the central player in an online paedophile ring, which included former SA Labor adviser Benjamin John Waters.
Among his many offences, Brooker had tens of thousands of images and videos of children being abused, with some of the material made by Brooker with a young teenage victim.
He was also charged with grooming multiple children and teenagers online through a variety of apps.
Brooker is facing an indefinite term of imprisonment under laws designed to protect the community from uncontrollable predators.
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BENJAMIN JOHN WATERS
Waters, 38 was arrested in April, 2021 and charged with child abuse offending.
Those charges arose from investigations into Australia’s worst-ever chided sex predator, Jadd William Brooker, and an alleged paedophile ring operating out of South Australia.
Waters, an ex-Labor staffer, pleaded guilty to accessing, transmitting and possession child exploitation material, which included images of children aged un 14.
He used the encrypted app Telegram to swap abuse material with other perverts. The court heard he even accessed it at work.
In January, 2022, the District Court heard Waters called himself a “proud pedo babe” in online chats and called child abuse “epic, natural and awesome”.
The court heard he also discussed molesting boys in Asia and said he was “ready for the next pedo step”.
Despite pleading guilty, Waters’ confessions also triggered a litany of excuses.
He tried to blame his crimes on a co-offender, a computer glitch and insisted he had no sexual interest in children.
In June, 2022, the District Court rejected those excuses and sentenced Waters to three months for the transmission offences, suspended on a two-year, $100 good behaviour bond.
For the possession offences, he imposed a 15-months and 15 days home detention sentence with a non-parole period of eight months.
RICHARD WILLIAM PERREY
The Barossa man, 43, was caught with over 300 videos he filmed of children playing outside.
Police also found screen shots and videos Perrey had filmed of live streamed shows featuring underage girls.
Perrey was one of 11 SA men arrested as part of Operation Molto, a two-year global sting targeting thousands of users of a cloud storage platform to share their sickening child exploitation material.
During sentencing, District Court Judge Liesl Kudelka said Perrey had sent messages encouraging the girls to commit sex acts.
The live streaming service allowed multiple users to watch the abuse as it happened.
Judge Kudelka said “it is abhorrent that children are being exploited in this way”.
In a victim impact statement, a father, whose children were secretly recorded by Perrey as they played in the street, told the District Court he felt “angered and betrayed” by Perrey’s “disgraceful acts”.
The father cannot be identified to protect the victims.
“I live in a constant state of fear for my children’s safety and wellbeing which is causing ongoing turmoil and distress,” he told the court.
“It feels as though a piece of me has been stolen from inside, like it is missing.
In March, 2022, Perrey was sentenced to five years in prison, with a non-parole period of two years and six months.
The sentence was backdated to the time of his arrest in August, 2020.
LUKE TREGLOAN
In February, 2021, Highgate man and children’s app creator Luke Spencer Tregloan, 46, pleaded guilty to possessing child exploitation material and filming women and underage girls without their knowledge.
Tregloan was one of 11 SA men arrested as part of Operation Molto.
When police searched Tregloan’s home they found images and videos he had filmed through the windows of peoples’ homes, including women in states of undress or engaged in sexual activity.
In the District Court in September, 2021, prosecutor Rachel Wang disputed Tregloan’s claims his offending was spontaneous and opportunistic and said he actively and deliberately planned his crimes, repeatedly filming the same women.
“Tregloan was not just passively coming across someone changing in front of a window, he was actively looking for his opportunities … most importantly, he revisited some victims multiple times,” she said.
In October, 2021, Tregloan was sentenced to 16 months for the child abuse material and 18 months for the indecent filming, with a non-parole period of nine months.
Judge Joana Fuller ordered that Tregloan serve the sentence on home detention bail and urged him to seek treatment.
In 2019, Tregloan and a business partner launched a smartphone app for children, featuring scenes filmed at iconic destinations across SA, including Kangaroo Island and Monarto Zoo.
The app showed native Australian animal characters singing education songs for children.
CAMERON HENLEY-FRIDMANIS
Henley-Fridmanis, 21 at the time of sentencing, was caught with 317 images and videos depicting the abuse of children as young as 12.
In 2021, the District Court heard the autistic woodworker, who pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing child exploitation material, began watching material depicting sadism, bestiality and child sexual abuse “out of boredom”.
Henley-Fridmanis’ lawyer, Kathryn Waite, conceded her client had a pornography addiction.
During sentencing, Judge Liesl Kudelka said the man’s offending fuelled the child exploitation industry.
He was sentenced to one year and one month in prison, but the sentence was suspended once Henley-Fridmanis entered a three year good behaviour bond.
BOE JACKSON
Jackson, 26, was jailed for one month in 2020, with the rest of his seven-month sentence suspended, after he was found with hundreds of animated images of abuse.
While serving a two-year good behaviour bond linked to the suspended sentence, police found more abuse material on his phone and in online storage during a raid in January, 2022.
Among the images were six photos of young girls being abused that were in a file marked “Hot Taboo”.
In July, Jackson’s lawyer told the court their client’s earlier conviction for possessing abhorrent images led them to download images of real children being abused.
On cloud storage, police found 841 animated images and videos of young girls, some as young as toddlers, being “violently sexually abused”.
Jackson claimed through his lawyer Indiana Davis he felt he had been labelled a child-sex offender after his first sentencing and was “curious” about the “real thing”.
Judge Paul Muscat refused to accept that submission saying the only conclusion to be drawn was that Jackson had a sexual interest in young children.
Judge Muscat revoked Jackson’s suspended sentence for the earlier offending, imposing a total sentence of two years and seven days, with a non-parole period of 14 months.
Jackson will be eligible for parole in September, 2023.
BRENDAN NAZER
One of the 11 SA men arrested as part of Operation Molto, Nazer, 21, was found with 25 videos of child abuse, 17 of them depicting children under the age of 14, stored on a mobile phone in his room.
Nazer pleaded guilty to two counts of possession child exploitation material, one of those counts being aggravated.
The court heard Nazer admitted to police during an interview that he viewed, downloaded and saved the files and intended to delete them or report them to police but it “slipped his mind” following the loss of a loved one.
During sentencing in May 2021, Judge Adam Kimber said he did not accept that claim nor did he accept Nazer’s claim that he had no sexual interest in children.
The court heard Nazer was sexually abused at the age of seven and allegedly committed sexual offending while he was a child himself.
Judge Kimber said while Nazer’s history “might be some explanation” for why he viewed and saved the material, “it also gives rise to a very real concern that you have not addressed your interest in such material and pose a risk of reoffending.”
Nazer was sentenced to two years and one month in prison, with a non-parole period of 13 months, wholly suspended.
He was ordered to pay a $500 two year good behaviour bond.
In July, 2022, Nazer faced court again on three charges of possessing child exploitation material, with one image relating to a child under 14.
The court heard Nazer, of Salisbury East, was working at Coles as a night-fill worker while serving the two-year and one month suspended sentence handed to him in May last year.
He was still wearing his Coles uniform during his court appearance in July.
In December, 2022, Nazer pleaded guilty to four counts of possessing child exploitation material, with two of those charges relating to children under the age of 14.
He faces sentencing in 2023.
DAVID WALKER
Convicted in 2018 for abusing a 12-year-old boy, Walker, 69, was back before the court this year for possession child exploitation material.
In August, the District Court heard Walker’s offences predated his being jailed in 2018.
He had been on bail for indecent assault offences in 2017, when police raided his home.
However, his computers were not forensically examined until August 2020 and not until July 2021 that he was interviewed by police.
Judge Paul Muscat expressed dissatisfaction that the charges had been laid four years after Walker’s electronic devices were seized, when Walker had already been released from prison.
Judge Muscat said had the possession of child exploitation charges come before the court in 2018, Walker, who also had convictions for abusing two boys in 1981, would have been a repeat serious offender under the law, which would have led to a more severe sentence.
He said walker had admitted to a doctor possessing child exploitation material but police had still not acted.
He sentenced Walker to 18 months in prison but suspended it, owing to the delays.
Walker was placed on a bond preventing him from being around children.
JAMES ROSS COX
James Ross Cox, 58 took up his sickening online habit after he stopped working and struggled to find meaning in his life, the Adelaide District Court heard in June.
He turned to alcohol and drugs and became addicted to pornography, the court heard.
The court heard that after receiving information that Cox was accessing child exploitation material, they went to his Davoren Park home in March, 2021 and found 78 files on one phone and at least 50 videos on another.
Most of the files depicted the abuse of children under the age of 14.
Police also established that Cox disseminated 59 child exploitation videos via WhatsApp on six occasions between December 2020 and January, 2021.
Cox pleaded guilty to possession and disseminating child exploitation material.
The court heard Cox was upset he had let his family down through his offending.
“You are upset that you have let your family down as they will struggle without your practical and financial support,” Judge Julie McIntyre said.
Cox was sentenced to three years and nine months’ in jail with a non-parole period of one year and 11 months.
BENJAMIN LUKE SMORTI
A father and former neo-Nazi was jailed in April, 2022 after he admitted to viewing child abuse material over a two-year period.
The Adelaide District court heard Smorti, 40, of Clare, was addicted to methamphetamines when he bookmarked links to the abhorrent material for easy access and viewed it to gratify his sexual interest.
The court heard police seized Smorti’s phone in April, 2020 and found 1558 child exploitation files and that 735 child abuse web pages were saved to Smorti’s browser.
Seventy of the files were deemed to be Category five on the Oliver Scale - which forms the basis for which child exploitation material is graded - where a child is subjected to sadism, torture, bestiality or humiliation.
The father-of-two pleaded guilty to accessing and possession child abuse material using a carriage service.
The court heard Smorti went from watching normal pornography to child abuse material after clicking on pop-up ads.
It heard Smorti had a troubled upbringing and got involved in a neo-Nazi gang where drugs and violence were a “significant feature”.
It heard Smorti was remorseful for his actions, was rehabilitating from his drug addiction and told a psychologist he deserved to go to jail for his crimes.
Smorti was sentenced to one year and six months in prison in April, 2022, suspended on a $500, two-year good behaviour bond.
DAVID MARC KNEEBONE
The Andrews Farm man was arrested in July, 2020 after an investigation by Australian Federal Police, based on a tip from the US.
Kneebone, who was 23 at the time of sentencing, a former defence force officer, downloaded hundreds of pictures and videos depicting child abuse and pleaded guilty to possession child abuse material and using a carriage service to access child pornography.
At a sentencing hearing, Judge Ian Press said most of the material depicted children aged 14-17 engaged in sexually explicit poses or involving solo or mutual masturbation.
A “small proportion” depicted pre-pubescent children, the court heard.
The court heard the Kneebone’s offending occurred “at the time of a relationship breakdown” with his partner of more than three years.
The court heard Kneebone’s mental health deteriorated during his deployment with the Royal Australian Air Force in the South China Sea in 2018 and he was hospitalised for two weeks after discovering his partner had been unfaithful.
He returned to Adelaide in 2019 in an attempt to salvage the relationship and began accessing the child exploitation material at this time.
Judge Ian Press said the fact Kneebone’s state of mind at the time “lent itself to making poor decisions” was “an important consideration” when considering the context of his offences.
Judge Press said Kneebone had a new partner, a house and had made “considerable efforts” to find work and treatment since his arrest, which were “positive signs” for his rehabilitation.
In December 2021, Kneebone received a suspended sentence of one year and four months in prison, with a two-year good behaviour bond.
PAUL RICHARD BURGER
A software developer and aspiring author, Burger, 67, was arrested after police received information that an IP address in Burger’s name was being used for peer-to-peer network sharing.
After searching his Brooklyn Park home in November, 2020, police uncovered 131 child exploitation material videos and images on various computers and other electronic devices.
In the District Court in August, 2022, Judge Joana Fuller said Burger claimed he downloaded the images as “research” for a novel he had begun working on several years ago.
The court heard Burger had a PhD in creative writing and had developed the script for the novel six years before committing his offence.
“In 2014, some years before you downloaded the child exploitation material, the subject of the charge, you developed the plot for a novel,” Judge Fuller said.
“The main character was Timothy Surle, a lawyer based in Adelaide who possibly suffered from a pedophilic disorder and a narcissistic personality disorder.”
The court heard Burger had developed the Timothy Surle character to be the ringleader of a “paedophile ring”.
Judge Fuller rejected a suggestion by the prosecution that Burger had “had a sexual interest” in child exploitation before formulating the main character of his novel.
“I will sentence you on the basis that you were researching paedophilia for the purposes of writing a novel, and in particular for the purposes of developing the main character of that novel,” Judge Fuller said.
Burger was sentenced to one year, seven months and 15 days in jail with a non-parole period of one year. He was ordered to serve out the remainder of his sentence in home detention.
DYLAN McCROSSIN
McCrossin, 39, was arrested in July, 2020, prompting the state education department to send a letter alerting parents from seven Adelaide schools, where the eastern suburbs man had worked as a relief teacher.
He was charged with one count of aggravated possession of child exploitation material and one count of possession child exploitation material and pleaded guilty.
Police found more than 40 videos and images on McCrossin’s desktop and laptop computers.
Counsel for McCrossin told the court their client “basically, monumentally, stuffed up his life”, was remorseful and fully accepted responsibility for his crimes.
McCrossin was one of the last offenders in SA to receive a sentencing discount of up to 40 per cent, entering his guilty pleas before legislation slashing those discounts was passed.
His sentence was discounted by 35 per cent and in June, 2021, he was ordered to serve 15 months and 19 days, with a non-parole period of nine months to be served in home detention.
JOHN MICHAEL TOYE
One of the 11 SA men arrested through Operation Molto, Toye pleased guilty to multiple counts of accessing and possession child exploitation material.
Toye was sentenced to one year, four months and seven days in custody, with a non-parole period of 10 months, backdated to December, 2021.
PETER LIONEL HYDE
Hyde, 81, will be able to continue caring for his dementia-suffering wife after he blamed “aggressive” advertising on him transitioning to his sinister online habit.
In January, 2022, the Rocky Camp man narrowly avoided serving his remaining years in jail after being caught with thousands of vile child exploitation files.
Police attended Hyde’s house in December 2017 and seized his devices where they found more than 2700 child exploitation images and videos, with the majority being children under 14 years.
The court heard Hyde, who originally denied his online identity, said he made the insidious transition to child exploitation material due to “aggressive” marketing, such as pop-up advertisements.
The court heard Hyde spread child exploitation material online through “detailed” Twitter messages.
“You assumed false identities and spoke about sexually offending against children – that included offending against an imaginary niece of yours,” Judge Gordon Barrett said during sentencing.
Hyde was sentenced to two years’ jail, with a non-parole period of 18 months.
The sentence was to be served on home detention, due to his low risk of reoffending.
JOHN EDWARD MADEX
A convicted child sex offender broke down in tears in the dock as he learned he would be heading to prison for accessing vile “depraved” child exploitation material.
John Edward Madex, 74, had 325 web searches for child exploitation material, targeting children aged between 11 and 13, a court heard.
During his sentencing remarks in the Mount Gambier District Court in November, 2022, Judge Heath Barklay slammed Madex for fuelling international demand for the sexual exploitation of children.
Madex was discovered by police during a routine search of the convicted sex offender’s phone and property.
Police discovered 96 files of child exploitation material on his phone, the court heard.
Prosecutor Georgina Nicholson described Madex as “depraved” with a “sexual inclination” towards little girls.
Madex is a serious sexual offender and was convicted of sexually abusing a seven-year-old on “at least three occasions” during the 1980s.
“He clearly has a very strong sexual interest in little girls,” Ms Nicholson said.
After a 25 per cent sentencing discount was applied for his early guilty plea, Madex was sentenced to one year and one month imprisonment with a non-parole period of 10 months and 25 days.
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Originally published as South Australians caught with sickening child abuse material
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