Country Victorian man, 66, arrested after allegedly driving 800km for sex with young Sydney girl

The moment a sting netted an alleged child sex predator who drove 800km to meet a young girl he groomed online has been shown in police footage.

The man, 66, from Yallourn North in eastern Victoria, emerged from his station wagon wearing tracksuit pants and ugg boots in a carpark in western Sydney on Friday morning, only to be grabbed by NSW Police.

Police say he drove from Victoria after believing he had arranged sex with a girl, aged under 10, with the girl’s mother in online conversations going on for nearly two months.

The moment a sting netted an alleged child sex predator who drove 800km to meet a young girl he groomed online has been shown in police footage

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Instead the man was speaking to detectives from Strike Force Trawler, in the NSW Police’s child sex crimes unit.

Police video shows an officer locking the dazed predator inside a paddy wagon as detectives stand by at Liverpool on Friday morning.

He was taken to Liverpool Police Station, where he was charged with use carriage service to procure a person under the age of 16 years for sexual activity.

He was refused bail and was due to appear in court on Saturday.

‘In May 2022, investigators from the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad’s Strike Force Trawler began engaging online with a man from Yallourn North in Victoria,’ a NSW Police statement said. 

‘Police will allege in court that the man believed he was speaking with the mother of a girl aged under 10 and engaged in sexually explicit conversations about acts he wished to perform on the child.

‘It will be further alleged that the man arranged to meet the mother and girl and had driven from Victoria for the purpose of a sexual encounter in NSW.’

The man, 66, from Yallourn North in eastern Victoria, emerged from his station wagon wearing tracksuit pants and ugg boots in a carpark in western Sydney on Friday morning, only to be grabbed by NSW Police

The CEIU’s detective chief inspector, Chris Goddard urged parents to talk openly to their children about the dangers posed by predators online.

‘For young people, engaging with people who they do not know on any online platform can put them at risk,’ Mr Goddard said.

“Our priority is protecting children from any type of harm, and we will always utilise every resource at our disposal to locate anyone who uses the internet for criminal activity.’