Child-Porn Swoop on State Offices
By John Silvester
Originally published in The Melbourne Age, June 6, 2001
Detectives last night raided the city headquarters of Victoria's Justice Department as part of an investigation into child pornography.
Police have already questioned a senior official in the department. He is expected to be charged with a series of child-pornography offences.
At least four detectives raided the department offices in St Andrews Place, Melbourne, about 6.30pm, after staff had finished work. Last night police were examining government computers.
Detectives are now trying to find out if officials in the department are connected with a child pornography network.
The computers were being examined by experts from the computer crime investigation squad to see if it has been used to store, receive or distribute child pornography.
Detectives raided the home of the senior officer about 10 days ago and seized two private computers, pornographic magazines, video tapes and pictures downloaded from the Internet. Police computer experts found several hundred hard-core pornographic images involving children as young as three.
The experts have already begun recovering deleted files from the man's computers. It is believed the files contain thousands of pornographic images of adults and children.
Last night's raid was part of the investigation to see if the manager had used his office computer to e-mail images to others, including senior government officials.
Police will try to discover if any other Justice Department workers have accessed child pornography through the computer system.
The senior manager, an unmarried man, aged 44, came to police notice after his house was burgled by three thieves about six weeks ago. It is thought the burglars tipped off police after they saw some of the pornographic material.
Police found a two-metre stack of pornographic magazines, more than 400 video tapes and thousands of pornographic pictures on the man's computer.
A police spokesman said last night: "Police are investigating the discovery of a large amount of pornography found in a house in Melbourne's northern suburbs.
"The pornography includes printed material, large numbers of videos, photographs and computer images obtained via the Internet. The seizure includes child pornography.
"Regional detectives are involved in the investigation. The police investigation is continuing, and it would be inappropriate to comment further about the case or discuss details that may identify the suspect."
Child pornography offences carry a maximum penalty of 10 years' jail.
Police experts will now trace e-mails sent through the Justice Department to see if the government computer system has been used to distribute illegal material. They will try to see if the pornography has been generated in Australia or overseas.
Similar international investigations using e-mail trails have uncovered networks of men who have received and distributed child pornography.
