Carnie paedo Timothy Crout groomed underage girls via Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook
A carnie involved with a Queensland amusement company that provided fair rides at events such as Moomba and the Melbourne Show has been exposed as a vile social media sex fiend. And his boss is not only keeping him on but gave him a reference.
Bass Coast News
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A carnival worker paedo groomed underage girls via social media by demanding vile images in exchange for free phone credit, a court has heard.
Timothy Crout, 33, was sentenced in the County Court to a 30-month suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to charges including using a carriage service to solicit child pornography
Crout’s disgusting online dealings with 14 social media users believed to be girls aged 12-15 from March to September 2018 involved him sending an unsolicited photo of his penis, asking the girls to have sex with him and begging for explicit photos.
His crimes were uncovered after a police officer added him on Facebook, pretending to be a 14-year-old girl from Melbourne.
Crout messaged the ‘girl’ he wanted to see her “sexy body”, saying, “I’ll buy u credit for pics of u”.
He deleted her as a Facebook friend after she repeatedly refused.
Crout also contacted the girls on Instagram and Snapchat, requesting video calls with one, and taunting several girls as “virgins” when they refused to send him nude photos.
The fiend also questioned his victims on their sexual experience, asked them to perform sex acts on him, and even arranged for one girl to meet him in park.
But the court heard he lived in Queensland and had no intention of ever meeting up with the girls.
To some of the girls, Crout, was 30 and 31 at the time, pretended to just 17 and 19 years old.
Crout, who also wanted his victims’ bra size, was unsuccessful in his bids to receive any explicit photos.
Police raided Crout’s Queensland caravan in September 2018.
The fiend gave investigators access to his social media accounts and admitted his crimes.
Crout works for a Queensland-based amusement company Chants Amusements, the court was told.
Chants Amusements has provided fair rides to events across the country including Moomba, the Royal Melbourne Show, Sunshine Coast Agricultural Show and Lakes Entrance Family Carnival.
The court was told Crout has maintained employment performing ride maintenance despite COVID-19 crippling the travelling fair industry.
Les Chant, boss of Chants Amusements, is not only keeping Crout but also gave him a reference.
He described Crout as “honourable” and “trustworthy” but warned Crout he would be “wiped from his family” if he offended again.
Judge Carolene Gwynn said Crout committed “predatory” and “insidious” offending and it was “concerning” he offered credit in return for photos
Crout — who ate chips and drank a soft drink while on videolink for his plea hearing — also pleaded guilty to grooming a person under 16 years.
He was made a registered sex offender for life.
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