Police have charged a Flinders man over the alleged online grooming of a 14-year-old girl.
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The man’s online activities came to the attention of detectives from the Sex Crimes Squad’s Child Exploitation Internet Unit (CEIU) last month, prompting an investigation.
Police now allege the man, who believed he was speaking with a 14-year-old girl, made a number of sexually explicit comments and sent a number of indecent images.
He is further accused of engaging in explicit acts online and discussing a meeting with the ‘child’.
Following subsequent inquiries, detectives arrested the man in a carpark outside Parramatta Swimming Centre just before 10am Friday.
They searched is car and seized a number of items, including a packet of condoms.
He was taken to Parramatta Police Station where he was charged with using a carriage service to procure persons under 16 years of age.
He was refused bail and is expected to appear before Parramatta Local Court today.
The Child Exploitation Internet Unit carries out regular covert online investigations and police in NSW work closely with their law-enforcement colleagues interstate and overseas.
Anyone with information about internet predators should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: https://www1.police.nsw.gov.au/.
Meanwhile, police are urging children not to send pictures of themselves to anyone they don’t know, or to arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they have only met online.
Police advise parents to consider installing filtering software and keep their child’s computer in a room the whole family can access.
Parents should spend time talking to their children about dangers associated with online conversations, and learning their favourite websites.