Kanwal: Convicted paedophile Mark Ginn used ‘Roblox’ currency for online abuse
A convicted Central Coast paedophile used currency from the online game Roblox to coax young girls sexually abusing themselves for videos. For the first time, the Express can reveal how police tracked him down after a tip from the FBI.
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A convicted paedophile from the Central Coast used currency from the online game Roblox to coerce young girls into sexually abusing themselves.
For the first time, the Express can reveal how Mark Anthony Ginn communicated with girls aged between 7 and 10 in the United States and Scotland over Snapchat, offering them Roblox characters of high value in exchange for sexual abuse videos which he would share online.
In one instance he asked a young girl “can you please do the splits naked so I can see your whole body?” in exchange for a Roblox parrot character, while he also coerced sisters into performing sexual acts on each other.
Ginn was arrested in March, 2021 after an investigation which started with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States.
The 34-year-old appeared before Gosford District Court for sentence submissions on August 12 before Judge Donna Woodburne.
Ginn, from Kanwal, appeared via audio-visual link from jail and was arraigned on 12 charges.
He entered pleas of guilty to three counts of possessing child abuse material with intention to be used by himself or another person, five counts of making child abuse material available using a carriage service, two counts of transmitting child abuse material using a carriage service, one count of soliciting child abuse material using a carriage service and one count of failing to comply with court orders.
An agreed set of facts tendered to the court reveal how police came to arrest Ginn and the extent of his offending between June, 2020 and March, 2021.
The facts state that in September, 2020 the FBI carried out a search warrant on a US man in relation to the production of child abuse material.
The man was arrested and indicted for child sexual abuse offences. During an interview with police he mentioned an Australian man he met over Snapchat during a conversation with a female he was trying to groom.
He told officers the man went by the alias “Keith Anderson” and was in a wheelchair.
“The pair traded online currency for a game Roblox,” the facts stated. “On one occasion Keith Anderson sent him $30 via PayPal for (the man) to purchase a Roblox game character for him.”
The US man gave the Australian man access to a Mega.nz storage account by the name “evil gurl” in May 2020.
“Keith Anderson” told the American man he would groom pre-pubescent females online and record them committing sexual acts on themselves via Snapchat. He would them forward them onto him to upload to their shared account.
The facts stated that Snapchat records connected “Keith Anderson” to Mark Ginn from the Central Coast of Australia.
In March 2021, members of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) child protection team attended a house in Kanwal and seized Ginn’s Apple iPad.
His email account revealed that he had logged into the Snapchat account over various dates in March 2021 and August and April 2020.
“A review of the iPad revealed child abuse material offences,” facts stated.
Ginn was arrested and charged with the offences before the court and a six month forensic review of his iPad was conducted with 66 videos found.
The AFP identified an ongoing conversation between Ginn and a Snapchat account belonging to a girl aged 8-10 in June and July, 2020.
“The accused offers to purchase or give various Roblox characters for use in the online game Roblox in exchange for videos of (the victim) performing various sexual acts upon herself,” the facts read.
One conversation read -
Ginn: “What are you doing? Why are you not asleep yet?”
Ginn: “Fair enough, come play Roblox.”
Ginn: “If you make videos so I can see your p***y properly”.
“I’ll show you my d**k after a few more videos”.
The facts stated that videos of this victim were uploaded to the shared storage account. The videos showed the victim reclining on her bed performing acts of sexual abuse.
The facts also revealed that Ginn targeted sisters from the US, one aged 8-10 and the other 7-9.
When the victim asks him to get an “adopt me pet” from Roblox, Ginn asks her to take a video “so I can watch you take your clothes off”.
“How many more?” the victim asks.
“Can you please show your ass and try to twerk. Where’s your sister?”
The sisters engaged in sexual acts with each other at Ginn’s request.
Between November 2020 and February 2021, Ginn communicated with a girl aged 8-10 from Scotland over Snapchat and tells her he is a 12 year old boy.
He asks her if she has a Roblox “parrot” before saying “can you please do the splits naked so I can see your whole body?”
The facts state that of the 66 files uploaded from Ginn’s IP address, three were classed category three child abuse and 61 were category one.
The AFP also identified conversations with other males online where Ginn sends them images and videos of his victims. He sent 20 videos to one account in March 2021.
The facts stated that in 2016 Ginn was jailed after being convicted of two counts of possessing child abuse material and three counts of using a carriage service to access child porn. He was sentenced to two years and two months with a non-parole period of one year and three months.
During sentence submissions at Gosford District Court, the Commonwealth Prosecutor stated that this was Ginn’s “third group of offences of this kind”.
“On their own they are very grave… the importuning of real children in real time to display themselves to engage in self abuse and in some cases to engage in sexual conduct in the case of the sisters,” he said.
“The offender appears clear as having done this not only for his own self gratification but to share it with like-minded perverts he has met online.”
He said offering children access to status holding characters in online gaming is the modern form of a stranger offering a child a lolly in a park.
“He was offering them something they so desperately wanted they were willing to be made exhibition of,” he said.
“These images have now been seen by many worrying people.”
He said Ginn had taken time to work out what was of value in the online game and was “forward” in his negotiations asking for more videos.
The court heard a psychologist’s report found Ginn accepted he had a sexual interest in children and was unsure why he reoffended.
The prosecutor said his actions of coaxing young children to degrade themselves for his own lust were worthy of a significant sentence to recognise the “grave conduct”.
Ginn’s defence agreed the offences were serious however said Ginn had recognised that he had been in denial regarding his problems.
“There has been a slight change in Mr Ginn showing some insight into his behaviour,” he said.
“He regrets his offending and understands the harm to children. There’s been a small but necessary step to Mr Gin recognising the gravity of his behaviour.”
He said Ginn, who had a physical disability and is confined to a wheelchair, had also completed treatment programs while in custody.
Judge Woodburne will hand down Ginn’s sentence in the Sydney District Court on September 16.
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