A Rutherford man who has pleaded guilty to a raft of charges related to possessing and sharing child abuse material - who was found with more than 16,000 illicit images and videos - will be sentenced in the district court.
Darren John Ware, 55, was arrested in February 2020 after the Australian Federal Police received a tip-off from the USA-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children about child abuse material being shared on the social media app Snap Chat.
Investigators discovered Ware's identity by tracking an IP address - a type of digital signature - and raided his home and workplace.
They seized two iPhones, a portable hard drive and a laptop - his work machine.
According to an agreed statement of facts tendered to the court, detectives discovered more than 16,000 images and videos classified as child abuse material linked to the four devices.
This included 47 pictures that fell into the worst category prescribed by the Australian National Victims Image Library Schema, which police can use to indicate the severity of child abuse material crimes.
According to the statement of facts, Ware shared images and videos of child abuse material online over a four-year period and engaged in horrific conversations with other people on the internet about violent fantasies.
Ware was involved in a video chat with a boy unknown to him who was aged between 13 and 15 years old. He watched the child perform a sexual act and used a screen recording function to save the footage.
The agreed facts said that Ware told police he was not sexually interested in children, but transmitted the abuse material because participants in the chat groups were 'pushy' and urged members to 'keep the group alive'.
The 15 charges Ware faces include using a carriage service to transmit, publish or promote child abuse material, possessing child abuse material and using a carriage service to engage in sexual activity with a child.
The charges against Ware, who remains on bail, were on Wednesday sent to Newcastle District Court, where the 55-year-old will appear on July 29.
