Open Universities creep Benjamin Gibbs jailed for sharing vile child porn with online paedophile ring
A US citizen living in Melbourne has been exposed as deviant paedophile with a “longstanding” addiction to child pornography after he shared “disturbing” material with an online pedo ring.
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A US citizen who kept his Melbourne Open Universities job even after admitting sharing vile child abuse material among a social media paedophile ring has been jailed.
Benjamin Gibbs, 31, was sentenced in the County Court on Thursday to two years’ and four months’ jail after pleading guilty to multiple child sexual abuse charges.
Gibbs was nabbed after local authorities received a tip-off from the FBI Child Exploitation Force that an “Australian citizen” was sharing child pornography via social media app KiK.
An online undercover FBI operative discovered Gibbs was sharing the vile material before referring him to Australian Federal Police.
Australian Federal Police Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team officers raided Gibbs’ Caulfield home on August 7 last year.
Investigators seized evidence including Gibbs’ Samsung Galaxy phone and a pair of Star Wars boxer shorts.
Police examined Gibbs’ phone and found he had shared vile videos and images to dozens of other KiK users including ‘dcjohn1996’, ‘AKG’ and ‘waridap’ between July 24 and the day of his arrest.
Gibbs, under the username ‘ShaThiefBen’, also shared material in secret paedophile chat groups ‘Dark Webbers and ‘Priv2’.
Gibbs, a member of Melbourne’s tight-knit orthodox Jewish community, also swapped vile and lewd messages with the other online paedophiles.
Investigators found 383 vile images and videos on Gibbs’ phone including material depicting penetration, sadism, humiliation and torture.
Some of the material was Anime or cartoons depicting child pornography.
Gibbs made a “no comment” interview with police before he was charged with multiple child sex offences including use a carriage service to transmit child pornography material.
Gibbs was remanded until he was granted bail on August 9.
He walked straight back into his Open Universities Australia marketing role which he had held since 2017.
Gibbs’ matter resolved when he pleaded guilty to four child sex abuse charges on January 29 this year.
Not only did Gibbs retain his job — a position he still held while appearing at this week’s plea hearing — but his Open Universities boss Anand Rego wrote a letter to the court on his behalf.
Gibbs grew up in an ultra-orthodox Jewish family in Arizona before moving to Florida.
He came to Australia in 2010 to study business at RMIT.
Gibbs became a permanent resident and settled into Melbourne’s tight-knit Jewish community.
The court heard Gibbs had sought treatment and support with a paedophiles anonymous group with several members providing references for Gibbs.
A psychologist found Gibbs had a pedophilic disorder and a “longstanding addiction to child pornography” which explained the “deviant and disturbing” material he was caught with.
It was submitted Gibbs would find prison more onerous due to the impending deportation but Judge Susan Pullen said Gibbs was “the sole architect of your predicament”.
Judge Pullen said Gibbs’ crimes were “horrific”.
“There is a need to protect the community from you … (which) is an important sentencing consideration,” Judge Pullen said.
Gibbs, who appeared dishevelled via videolink from, was jailed for a maximum three years and four months but will be released on good behaviour bond for the last 12 months of his sentence.
He was placed on the sex offender registry for life and will be deported after his sentence is complete.
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