Overview

• Across two weeks, officers executed 15 search warrants in Sydney, the Central Coast and Wollongong, involving more than 140 personnel.
• Nine people were charged in NSW and more than 50 electronic devices were seized, with offences carrying maximum penalties of 10 to 20 years.
• A 62-year-old Wyongah man was remanded after allegedly paying a Filipino trafficker for three live-streamed abuse calls totaling 56 minutes.
• Those charged in NSW include a children’s face painter, Jesse Kristal Hopkins, and IT worker Jack Fennell, with allegations ranging from uploading material to posing as a teenage girl to contact minors; another man accused of running abuse-focused group chats was refused bail.
• Separate SA JACET actions charged six men in six days, bringing the total charged to 15 across NSW and South Australia, and authorities say further arrests are likely as investigations continue.