By Alesha Capone
A Hoppers Crossing man has been sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to child abuse offences.
The County Court of Victoria sentenced the 48-year-old man on Friday, according to a statement released by the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
AFP members of the Victorian Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team (JACET) launched an investigation in July 2020, following reports that a person in Hoppers Crossing had downloaded and stored child abuse material.
The man’s arrest was part of a nationwide criminal investigation, Operation Molto, co-ordinated by the AFP Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), which investigates offenders using a cloud storage platform to share “abhorrent” child abuse material online.
Further investigations revealed the man was actively transmitting and obtaining child abuse material and possessing child abuse material.
He was charged with three offences in contradiction of the Criminal Code 1995 including cause child abuse material to be transmitted to himself; use carriage services to make available child abuse material and; possess child abuse material using a carriage service.
