Gregory Vincent Connery on child grooming charges at Lismore

Police posing as a 14-year-old girl allege an East Lismore man engaged in sexually explicit conversations with the make believe teenager.

An East Lismore man charged with child grooming is set to be dealt with by the court after he allegedly engaged in sexually explicit conversations with a police honeypot social media account.

Gregory Vincent Connery, 62, appeared in Lismore Local Court on Wednesday charged with using a carriage service to groom a child under 16 years of age for sex.

Allegedly using the online identity, “9inchboner”, Connery engaged in sexual conversations with a ‘14-year-old girl’ before arranging to meet with her for sex, police will claim.

The ‘14-year-old girl’ was in fact an assumed identity created by investigators attached to the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad – Child Exploitation Internet Unit.

Gregory Vincent Connery leaving the Lismore Local Court.

Connery allegedly contacted the child and when she told him she was 14 years old, he replied “perfect”, asking for her mobile phone number so they could have a “naughty chat”, according to police documents.

The accused provided a mobile number to the girl which police claim is registered to his address in East Lismore.

Police will claim that Connery repeatedly steered the conversation towards alleged sexual acts he wished to do to the child, on one occasion allegedly inviting her to a hotel room in Sydney for sex.

The police pretending to be the girl repeatedly reminded Connery that the person was only 14 years old, according to documents.

“Connery has shown complete disregard for the young age of (the girl), repeatedly expressing sexually explicit acts that he wished to perform with her and also clearly stating his desire to travel and meet with (her) for the purpose of performing those sexual act,” police alleged in court documents.

Connery was arrested at a South Lismore business around 10.20am on September 14.

A search warrant was issued while Connery was in custody and a laptop and mobile phone seized from his home.

While being interviewed at Lismore Police station, police allege Connery told officers he was the only person who used the mobile phone and he was the author of the sexually explicit chat logs with the fake teenage girl.

Connery faces charges of use carriage service to procure person under 16 years for sexual activity and use carriage service to engage in sexual activity with child. No pleas have been entered.

He remains on bail and is to appear before the Lismore Local Court for mention on August 24.