Mernda man grooms ‘underage teen’ for sex
A Mernda man tried to groom a 15-year-old boy for sex, telling him he had “experience” with youngsters like him. But little did he know the teen was keeping a secret of his own.
Inner East
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A creep who tried to groom an underage boy for sex online offered to pick his victim up from school and even suggested they hook up in a railway station toilet.
The Mernda man, now aged 30 and who cannot be named for legal reasons, believed he was chatting to a 15-year-old boy from Glen Iris early last year but was really talking to an undercover cop, the County Court heard.
Police posing as the teenage boy contacted the man after he posted online that he was looking for a young person to hook up with and specified he wanted “nobody over 18”.
Between March 8 and 19 last year, the man unwittingly exchanged messages with police, expressing an “interest in young, inexperienced males as sexual partners”, the court heard.
He told police that he’d “f — d a 16-year-old in public toilets a few times” and suggested they could meet up at the toilets at Southern Cross station.
He also said he could pick the boy up after school, although he said he they’d have to meet a few streets away from the front gate so as not to arouse suspicion.
He also repeatedly pressured the youngster to send him photos.
Police swooped on March 20 last year, raiding the man’s home where they found two fake guns and a baseball bat in his bedroom that he told them he owned for protection.
In sentencing the man, Judge Trevor Wraight said the text messages shared with police were not “highly depraved” and did not contain explicit material.
But he said the conversation was sexually charged and the man should have known it was inappropriate.
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“While it is true that the police operative initiated contact with you, it was in response to your advertisement for seeking a sexual partner aged 18 or below,” Judge Wraight said.
“Once you knew of the age (of your victim) you could have desisted, but you did not.”
The man, who had no prior criminal history, was convicted and sentenced to one year’s jail but was released on a three-year good behaviour bond and made to pay $2000.
He was also fined $600 for the fake guns and ordered to complete a sex offender’s treatment program.