Blake Ross: sex offender worked at Cronulla Junior Rugby League games

A child sex offender worked as a first aid officer at children’s rugby league games and more than 140 other events including music festival.

A registered child sex offender worked as a first aid officer at children’s rugby league games and a range of other sporting events for months until his employment was exposed in a media investigation.

A police investigation discovered Blake Ross, 27, had worked at more than 140 events as a private medic or first aid officer in defiance of his obligations as a registered child sex offender until July 2032.

Ross was ineligible for child-related work after he was jailed for six months in 2017 for having sex with at least two girls as young as 14 when he was then 23.

Ross has now pleaded guilty to 12 counts of failing to comply with his reporting obligations as a registered child sex offender pertaining to his employment and social media use and will be sentenced at Sutherland Local Court on May 3.

Blake Ross. Picture: Supplied

Agreed police facts tendered to the court state Ross worked as a first aid officer at Cronulla Junior Rugby League games in August and September 2019 as a contractor for Cronulla First Aid.

The facts reveal Ross also worked at 140 events, including music festivals and Vivid Sydney, for EMS Event Medical.

Ross also worked at adult endurance athletic events – once as a volunteer and once as a paid casual – for Event Safety Services between May 2019 and May 2020.

Event Safety Services’ Lucas Trihey terminated Ross’s employment in August 2020 when another employee learned of his criminal past through media reports.

“The same day I removed him from the staff list, contacted the three staff who had worked in the same teams at the volunteer and paid positions and alerted all my staff of the situation,” Mr Trihey said.

“The following week we implemented improved systems to ensure that convicted criminals of any description could not work for us without declaring their criminal history.”

Blake Ross at Sutherland Local Court. Picture: Liam Mendes

Mr Trihey said Ross approached him in early 2019 about volunteer opportunities to accrue placement hours for his Bachelor of Paramedicine Studies at Charles Sturt University.

“It was surprising and concerning to me that a person with a criminal conviction of this nature was able to undertake study in one of the caring professions at a registered training organisation without a background or police check,” Mr Trihey said.

EMS Event Medical CEO Mike Hammond previously told the St George Shire Standard that Ross was always supervised with children as a medic without registration with AHPRA.

“We were not aware of Mr Ross’s history,” Mr Hammond said.

“Had we known, we would never have engaged Mr Ross as an EMS team member.”

Through his lawyer, Ross has previously denied withholding information about his criminal history from EMS Event Medical.

Cronulla First Aid did not respond to a request for comment about Ross’s employment with them as a first aid officer at Cronulla Junior Rugby League games in August and September 2019.

Blake Ross.

Police began investigating Ross after an exclusive report from the St George Shire Standard revealed he was studying paramedicine.

A spokeswoman for the Office of the Children’s Guardian – which manages the NSW Working With Children Check – said employers were ultimately responsible for meeting their WWCC obligations.

“Organisations need to identify who in their organisation requires a Working with Children Check – child related paid workers and volunteers – and then confirm their clearance status with the Office of the Children’s Guardian,” the spokeswoman said.

“This is a simple process of entering a person’s WWCC number and date of birth through our online system.”

Blake Ross.

The spokeswoman said the OCG has a compliance team that monitors and audits organisations to make sure those obligations are met.

“It also includes continuous monitoring once an organisation lists their employees and volunteers in the Office of the Children’s Guardian’s system to verify them,” the spokeswoman said.

“If a person is initially cleared but becomes barred, the Office of the Children’s Guardian will advise the employer that the person is not to work with children.”

Ross will also be sentenced for breaches including social media use, dating app use and his use of temporary licence plates – all of which he failed to correctly notify police about within the necessary timeframe.