A 29-year-old Ipswich man was today sentenced in the Supreme Court in Brisbane to four years imprisonment, with a non-parole period of one year and nine months after pleading guilty to range of child exploitation offences following a Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) investigation in 2014.
Jesse John Howe pleaded guilty today to six counts of accessing and possessing child exploitation material. He also pleaded guilty to the serious criminal offence of aggravated networking, a charge that relates to conduct that involves offending on three or more occasions and involves two or more users online.
In September 2014, the CCC executed a search warrant at an Ebbw Vale address after identifying Jesse John Howe was using peer to peer computer software to access and share child exploitation material. He was charged and the CCC seized numerous computer and storage devices.
The CCC’s Acting Executive Director Crime, Michael Scott, said an analysis of the seized devices identified over 4000 image and movie files that were categorised as child exploitation material.
“The CCC targets criminals who engage in the distribution and sharing of child exploitation material because they are responsible for creating a market for images and movies that depict very serious offending against children,” Mr Scott said.
“Every child depicted in child exploitation material, whether they are based in Australia or overseas, has been subjected to criminal behaviour. Internet-based paedophiles are insidious and they commit very serious criminal offences. The CCC continues to work with law enforcement in Australia and globally to identify and prosecute these criminals.”
In the 2014/15 financial year, the CCC charged 11 people with 151 child exploitation offences and disseminated seven evidence packs to interstate jurisdictions.
Since 1 July 2015, the CCC has charged 12 people with more than 85 criminal charges relating to child exploitation material.
The CCC’s investigation remains ongoing.
ENDS
