Ex-Australian Border Force officer Justin Anderson pleads guilty to child abuse material charges

A former Australian Border Force sex grub quit his job after he was busted hoarding vile child abuse material at his family home.

Justin Anderson pleaded guilty to child abuse material charges. Facebook.

An ex-Border Force officer specifically trained on how to find objectionable material on incoming passengers has admitted hoarding his own horrific collection of child abuse imagery.

Justin Anderson, 34, was sentenced in the County Court on Monday to an immediate five-month jail term after pleading guilty to accessing and possessing child abuse material.

Anderson was arrested at the Fraser Rise home he shared with his wife and son on December 17 last year.

Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team investigators pounced on Anderson after he shared child abuse material on peer-to-peer network Gnutella.

Authorities seized electronic devices including mobile phones, computers and external storage devices which contained a combined 475 child abuse material files.

Further examination revealed Anderson had accessed child abuse material stretching back to 2019, the court was told.

Anderson’s grubby material including vile files which depicted or described a “child as a victim of physical or sexual abuse”.

The fiend was also caught with a video titled: ‘ANNI 10 Hussyfan (Pthc) Vicky 7yo and 10yo 69 Pedo Child Porno Lolita’.

Anderson initially denied he possessed any child abuse material when interviewed by police.

“Well, no,” Anderson said.

“No … not that I can think of anyway.”

Anderson gave a “false explanation” after police informed him child abuse material had been located on his computer tower.

The fiend claimed he “noticed” child abuse material on his computer which “inadvertently appeared” after downloading files via uTorrent.

Anderson also “suggested” his computer was “doing things that were not under his control”.

The grub claimed a “virus” downloaded the material or “someone” had regained remote access.

Anderson claimed he attempted to delete any child abuse material that was “inadvertently present” on his computer.

Anderson told investigators he knew (possessing child abuse material) was serious because as a Border Force officer he had been trained to assess passengers arriving into Australia and to

examine their mobile devices for such “objectionable material”.

The grub later told police “there was more he wished to say”.

“There was an instance where that curiosity got the better of me when I was looking through … through I guess using the uTorrent to download items and to see what else was … that could be found …,” Anderson said.

“There was a particular file that was downloaded that was … I can’t remember the name of

it but it was like … like a collection or compilation, sorry.

“When I obtained that and had opened it there was a large amount of said exploitation material which I then deleted as well.”

Anderson claimed he accessed the child abuse material “out of sheer curiosity” and he was “gobsmacked” at how easy it was to find.

Anderson was released but a few days later the fiend, via his lawyer, indicated he

would like to “come clean”.

The court heard Anderson worked for Australian Border Force since 2013 but quit after he was charged in December last year.

Anderson worked as a customs officer at Melbourne Airport before he was promoted to a city-based team leader in 2018.

Anderson described his Border Force tenure as a “rewarding career”.

The court heard Anderson most recently worked as a storage facility manager.

A psychologist opined Anderson had “intermittent pedophilic and hebephiliac sexual

interests” during a three-year period in the “context of workplace stressors”.

Judge Arushan Pillay sentenced Anderson to a two-year and six month jail term but he will be released on a 30-month good behaviour bond after serving five months.

Anderson was made a registered sex offender for 15 years.

[e-mail]