Accused Victorian childcare abuser Joshua Dale Brown allegedly contaminated children’s food with his bodily fluids

It can be revealed that an accused Victorian childcare predator allegedly contaminated children’s food with his bodily fluids.

A childcare worker alleged to have sexually abused eight infants may have harmed another 1200 children by contaminating their food with his bodily fluids.

Joshua Dale Brown is charged with 70 offences, including sexual penetration of a child, producing child abuse material and recklessly contaminating goods to cause alarm or anxiety.

Police sources confirmed the latter charge relates to bodily fluid in food.

Christian McGrath, Victoria’s chief health officer, said 2600 families had been contacted in the fallout from Brown’s arrest.

A image of the Melbourne alleged sex abuser Joshua Brown. Picture: Supplied

The Department of Health has recommended 1200 children undergo screening and testing as a “precautionary measure”.

“The risk is low, but there’s not no risk, which is why we’re making this recommendation,” Mr McGrath said, adding the department had assisted 1300 families across Tuesday.

The raid on Brown’s Point Cook home in May and his subsequent arrest has sparked one of Victoria’s largest police and public health operations in recent memory and shocked the nation.

Police allege they located a cache of child abuse material at the 26-year-old’s home, triggering intensive efforts to identify eight alleged victims, some as young as five months old.

Brown is accused of sexually abusing the infants during his time at the Creative Garden Early Learning Centre in Point Cook between April 2022 and January 2023. But the investigation has uncovered a far broader potential risk, with police confirming Brown worked at 20 childcare centres across Melbourne since 2017.

A image of the Melbourne alleged sex abuser Joshua Brown. Picture: Supplied

After Brown tested positive for a sexually transmitted infection, police and the Victorian Health Department spent weeks planning how to inform families and test more than 1200 children.

Meantime, police have revealed fresh details about the allegations surrounding a second man charged with child sexual offences that stem from the probe into Brown.

Michael Simon Wilson, a 36-year-old man from Hoppers Crossing, was charged in relation to a sexual assault in Coburg in April against a teenage boy.

Wilson’s alleged offences are not believed to involve childcare centres or any of Mr Brown’s alleged victims but the pair reportedly know each other.

Both men are due to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on September 15.