A Hoppers Crossing man was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to child abuse offenses.
The Victorian County Court sentenced the 48-year-old man on Friday, according to a statement released by the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
AFP members of the Victorian Joint Child Exploitation Team (JACET) launched an investigation in July 2020, following reports that a person in Hoppers Crossing had downloaded and stored child abuse material.
The man's arrest was part of a nationwide criminal investigation, Operation Molto, coordinated by the AFP Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), which investigates offenders using a cloud storage platform to share "abhorrent" child abuse material online.
Further investigation revealed that the man was actively transmitting and obtaining child abuse material and possessed child abuse material.
He was charged with three offences contravening the Criminal Code 1995, including; causing child abuse material to be transmitted to himself; using transportation services to make child abuse material available and; possessing child abuse material using a transportation service.
