Cody Asplet, 27, charged after a secretive Australian Federal Police child exploitation probe

A man charged with 92 animal and child abuse offences can be revealed as an amateur model and former lover of an ex-Moonee Valley councillor after a long-running gag order was lifted.

Model Cody Asplet is accused of shocking bestiality and child sexual abuse crimes.

An aspiring young model stands accused of shocking bestiality and child sexual abuse crimes.

Cody Asplet, 27, is facing almost 100 charges following a secretive Australian Federal Police child exploitation probe.

The amateur model faced the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court last week where a long-running gag order over his criminal case was lifted.

For almost a year the public had been prevented from knowing the details of his sick alleged offending while living in Melbourne.

The long-running gag order over Mr Asplet’s criminal case has been lifted. Picture: Instagram

It can now be revealed the Sydney-born man is charged with 92 animal and child abuse offences dating from January 2022 until his arrest in 2024.

Charge sheets obtained by the Herald Sun allege he “intentionally penetrated an animal” at South Melbourne on or before November 29, 2023. The offence carries a maximum prison term of five years.

Mr Asplet is also facing dozens of charges of using a carriage service to transmit and access child abuse material and using a carriage service in a “menacing, harassing or offensive” way.

His now-deleted Instagram account, followed by more than 13,000 people, featured multiple images of dogs that he had in his care over recent years, including kelpies, sausage dogs, labradors, huskies and german shepherds.

Police allege Mr Asplet ‘intentionally penetrated an animal’.

Now living in Sydney, Mr Asplet fronted court virtually last Friday, where his lawyer sought an extension of the suppression order protecting his identity.

But the request was abandoned after Magistrate Felicity Broughton declared she had prior knowledge of the gag order and that it was intended only to protect the integrity of the AFP probe, which has now concluded.

The court heard the case involved a “complex” brief of evidence, with 1000 more pages of material recently added.

Mr Asplet was allegedly a member of an online group where users would share illicit child abuse material, it is understood. The group was infiltrated and users charged as part of investigations by AFP and the Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team, which includes federal and state detectives.

According to Mr Asplet’s online modelling profile, he has been working in the industry since the age of 18.

Mr Asplet will return to court in March.

Originally published as Cody Asplet, 27, charged after a secretive Australian Federal Police child exploitation probe