Max Ohanes Koopelain, 38, groomed teens with gifts, clothes and Ed Sheeran ticket

A Central Coast man used his RSPCA adoption dog to befriend teenage girls and then lavished them with gifts, slushies and even an Ed Sheeran ticket to groom them for sex, a court has heard.

Max Koopelain, 38, of the Central Coast, has pleaded guilty to grooming children for sex by buying them clothing and gifts. Picture: NSW Police

A man showed a teen girl videos on his phone of a woman engaged in a sexual act and asked how much it would take — including offering a new pair of Nike Air Jordans or an Apple Watch — to “flash her whole body”, a court has heard.

Max Ohanes Koopelain, 38, faced Wyong Local Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to two counts of grooming girls for sex, intentionally inciting a child to do a sexual act, exposing himself to a child, and possessing and disseminating child abuse material.

Koopelain also pleaded guilty to seven counts of failing to comply with court-imposed reporting conditions after previous criminal convictions.

An agreed set of facts states Koopelain was living with his elderly parents when he adopted a dog from the RSPCA named “Lola” in early 2022.

He took the dog for walks where he met some children and then started going back almost every day for them to play with Lola.

Koopelain pleaded guilty in Wyong Local Court.

He befriended two girls in particular, aged in their early teens, and told them he was 25.

“The offender regularly purchased items for [them] including makeup, skincare products and food,” the facts state.

In May 2022 he met a 17-year-old girl at Westfield Tuggerah and told her he was 22 before they engaged in an intimate relationship.

Koopelain was 36 when he met a girl, 17 at Westfield Tuggerah before having an intimate relationship with her. He told her he was 22. (File picture: Mark Scott)

The facts state in July 2022 they were heading to Hornsby and talking about licence photos when she discovered he was born in 1986.

The girl “started to cry” but after some persuasion agreed to continue in the relationship.

During sex he started showing her images and videos on his phone of pre-pubescent girls engaged in sexual activity and told her “I’m into this”, the facts state.

But she asked him to stop because it was making her uncomfortable and eventually the relationship ended.

In December 2022, he offered to help a woman put up some Christmas decorations because she was recovering from surgery and he asked her daughter to help pass things up to him on the roof.

“The offender was wearing long shorts and had deliberately rolled up the legs of his shorts so his genitals were visible,” the facts state.

This made the girl feel uncomfortable and she went inside. The following week he asked her to help him put up decorations at his house and he did it again.

Koopelain flashed his genitals to a young girl as he put Christmas lights up. (File image for illustration purposes only — not his or the victims’ house)

In late 2022 and early 2023, he started spending time with the two young teenagers who he regularly bought Slurpees from 7-Eleven, took them to the beach and to Erina Fair shopping centre – where he paid for them to have manicures.

One of the girls and her mother were going to an Ed Sheeran concert so he purchased extra tickets for himself and her friend.

That girls’ parents were reluctant but allowed her to go with her friend and Koopelain met them there.

But not before buying her an outfit and showing her sexual images on his phone, in which he asked how much it would cost, such as a pair of Nike Air Jordans and an Apple Watch, for her to “flash her whole body”.

After the concert the girl was “behaving unusually and wearing inappropriate clothing” and her parents confiscated her phone.

They discovered messages which revealed Koopelain had previously tried to give her a vibrator and had been picking her up and taking her to school – so they reported it to police.

The following day police searched his home and found various items including receipts for girls’ clothing and various photographs of children.

He was arrested and taken to Wyong Police Station where he admitted breaching reporting conditions and buying the girls things “because he wanted to spoil them”.

“At the conclusion of the ERISP, the offender said, “Tell everyone I’m sorry”, stood up and stabbed a pen into his neck,” the facts state.

“Police removed the pen from the offender’s neck and threw it onto the ground. There was a small trickle of blood down the accused’s neck. The offender was placed into handcuffs and remanded into custody.”

He will face Gosford District Court on May 1 to fix a sentence date.

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