A 44-year-old Nethercote man has pleaded guilty to possessing and sharing child abuse images.
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Trevor Michael Savage of Florabunda Road admitted to possessing almost 4000 child pornography images and videos on a tablet and two laptops.
District Court judge Anthony Blackmore also heard Savage admitted to sharing child pornography with an undercover police officer he met on an image hosting website via email from May and September this year.
Savage was arrested at his home on September 19 after a police search.
According to court documents, police officers asked Savage if he was in possession of child abuse material. After pointing them in the direction of his Samsung tablet, 1200 images of children aged about nine to 13-years-old were discovered downloaded by Savage from March 17 to September 17 this year.
Two videos were also found on the tablet, along with 2554 images on two seized laptops.
More than 450 images were discovered on Savage’s Acer laptop, and 2088 images of 100 children were found on his HP laptop disguised as holiday photographs.
Savage was charged with possessing child abuse material, and disseminating child abuse material.
Police described Savage as “very helpful” with the investigation, and “very co-operative”.
They said he showed remorse and admitted to having the images while in custody.
The online operation was part of Operation Argos, run by Queensland Police targeting online child exploitation and abuse.
During his online conversations with police, using his personal email address, Savage indicated his interest in abusing a child.
“What age do you like?” Savage asked in his first email.
“I’d like to know how like-minded (sic) can get an opportunity to play with them,” he said in another.
He sent at least six emails to undercover officers, which included images and animated gifs of child pornography, the first email asking what age the respondent was interested in. The conversations continued for almost four months, until Savage’s September arrest.
Judge Blackmore adjourned the matter in Bega District Court on Wednesday, November 15 for sentencing in Port Macquarie District Court on February 19, 2018.