A Sydney childcare worker has been charged with using children to make child abuse material as investigators sort through more than half a million unique images from devices seized from his home.
The man cannot be identified under a court non-publication order.
Sexual assault support services:NSW Health Sexual Assault Services  NSW Sexual Violence Helpline on 1800 424 017NSW Victims Services on 1800 633 0631800RESPECT national helpline on 1800 737 732Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service on 1800 211 028Bravehearts (support for child sexual abuse survivors) on 1800 272 831Child Protection Helpline on 132 111MARS Australia (for men affected by rape and sexual abuse) on (07) 3857 1222VIC Sexual Assault Crisis Line on 1800 806 292VIC Health Sexual Assault Services
He faces seven counts of using a child under the age of 14 years to make child abuse material — three of which involve alleged circumstances of aggravation — and one count of possessing child abuse data.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) confirmed the man was arrested in July as part of an investigation into online child abuse material.
A search warrant had been carried out at his home the previous month and investigators seized several electronic devices for forensic analysis.
AFP Detective Superintendent Luke Needham said about 1.4 million files were on the devices, and about 550,000 were identified as unique images.
“The number of files does not provide any indication of the scale of the alleged offending,” he said in a statement.
“Rather, this indicates the volume of work required by investigators from the AFP’s Victim Identification Team.”
Superintendent Needham said officers were continuing to “methodically review the electronic material”.
The court order preventing the man’s identity from being published also prohibits publication of any information that may identify his current or previous places of work.
It was made on the basis of preventing psychological harm and avoiding undue distress to people involved in criminal proceedings.
His case is listed before Parramatta Local Court on Friday.