Michael Navarro: Ex-Sofitel supervisor jailed over sickening cyber child sex crimes
An ex-Xavier College student and top Melbourne hotel supervisor who was a secret member of an online paedo ring has been jailed.
Inner South
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A former Sofitel supervisor who solicited vile child pornography which he shared with a depraved social media paedophile ring has been jailed.
Michael Navarro, 43, was sentenced to a maximum of four years’ behind bars in County Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to various charges including transmit, solicit and possess child abuse material.
Navarro, of Caulfield North, hunted underage victims and swapped vile child abuse material with other online paedophiles via encrypted social media site Telegram.
Navarro engaged in lewd conversations and made vile requests for abhorrent material between December 2018 and June 2020.
In sentencing Navarro Judge Michael O’Connell said the crimes were “abhorrent”.
“The depravity of the material was of the highest order, with much of it relating to children under 13 and as young as one being subjected to terrible abuse,” he said.
“There can be no justification for offending as antithetical to human decency as this.”
It comes after the Xavier and Scotch College alumna held his head in his hands and was sweating as his vile messages and demands — sent to encrypted chatrooms with up to 50 other predators — were read aloud in court.
“Buckle up bros … Bring ya s***. Nothin over 13,” Navarro wrote in one forum.
Navarro also discussed his preference for female children with other online sickos.
“I like mini burgers not Big Macs …,” Navarro said.
Navarro also requested material of a particular victim he had seen before.
“Looking for this Asian girl. She has I think 4 vids. Vids are about 24 mins each instead of this short version,” Navarro said.
The fiend also demanded another Telegram user — who had purported to be an underage female — send him “samples” of vile child abuse.
Navarro, who told the user he could purchase videos and images, also sent examples of the vile material he was looking for.
The vile sicko also sent a link to his online cloud storage account to another vile Telegram user.
The account contained 57 files including an abhorrent video which depicted a bound female child
Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team investigators raided Navarro’s apartment after receiving a tip-off regarding the fiend’s cloud account.
Navarro was arrested and bailed on June 1.
The court heard Navarro worked as a supervisor at Sofitel Melbourne while he committed his offending.
Navarro, who commenced working for Sofitel in 2014, ceased employment due to the COVID-19 pandemic in November 2020, and after pleading guilty to these charges.
The former Scotch and Xavier College student was once a promising tennis player who was set to compete on the ATP tour in 1995 but a back injury curtailed his career hopes.
Navarro then entrenched himself in Melbourne’s hospitality scene which included stint as a manager at two hat city restaurant Grossi Florentino.
Navarro will serve two years’ and three months jail before he is made eligible for parole.
He was made a registered sex offender for life.
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