A Sydney man accused of running a Satanic paedophile ring allegedly hoarded almost 7000 abuse images involving babies and animals and told acolytes using encrypted chats that he “wished” to abuse children.
But when police burst through his door he tried to claim he was “building a case” as an “investigative journalist”.
Landon Germanotta-Mills, 27, was charged in late November by the NSW Police child abuse squad under Strikeforce Constantine, which was probing an online abuse cell operating on a New Zealand file sharing website.
Germanotta-Mills was arrested at his Waterloo apartment and remained in custody until last week, when he was released on bail by the NSW Supreme Court.
The town to which he was bailed cannot be revealed under court order.
A police document, released by the court on Tuesday, alleges Germanotta-Mills told 12 other users in encrypted one-on-one chats that he was into “young doesn’t matter what age” as well as “zoo” and “incest”.
The descriptions of images in the document are too horrific to repeat, but one user allegedly asked Germanotta-Mills if he had ever “f***ed young”, to which he allegedly replied “I wish”.
Police who dug into the New Zealand company’s servers discovered the images involving animals, adult men and infants, and tracked the emails and phone numbers used to register the accounts.
One email allegedly led police to Underground Media Network, Germanotta-Mills’ blog in which he claims he works as an investigative journalist exposing police corruption, racism and “trauma informed” stories including child abusers.
But Germanotta-Mills, who described himself online as an independent First Nations’ journalist, was allegedly using those accounts to chat with other users requesting and sending child abuse material.
“Trying to find some pervy porn,” Germanotta-Mills allegedly wrote to another user just two weeks before his arrest.
The person he was chatting to described abusing a child.
“You hot perverted pedo,” Germanotta-Mills allegedly added.
Police marched into Germanotta-Mills’ home in Waterloo on November 27 last year and found him on a lounge. He offered to “cooperate, if I get a chance to explain reasons”, according to the document.
“[The material] was on my devices to build a bigger case… I should have sent it straight away to you guys and reported it straight away,” Germanotta-Mills allegedly told police.
“Instead of trying to make my case… be a typical journalist.”
Detective Superintendent Jayne Doherty, then head of the NSW Sex Crimes squad, said the material consisted of victims aged from babies to 12, was “among the most extreme we have seen” and that its “use of satanic iconography demonstrates the level of depravity”.
She said police were working with international law enforcement and had gathered evidence identifying 145 alleged overseas offenders.
Germanotta-Mills was charged with a string of offences including accessing, transmitting and possessing child abuse material and some relating to bestiality material.
Germanotta-Mills was released on April 28 by NSW Supreme Court Justice Belinda Rigg who found the risks posed by releasing him could be managed by home detention, daily police reporting and bans from phones and internet devices.
“There is apparent strength to the prosecution case on my analysis of the detailed fact sheet, including the ways in which the applicant is linked with the different devices and platforms relied upon by the prosecution, and also a number of admissions made by him,” she said.
Germanotta-Mills was allegedly sexually involved with another man, Benjamin Drysdale, who had previously been convicted of child abuse material, the fact sheet says.
Drysdale, ex-police officer David Turner and former Victorian swim coach Mark Andrew Sendecky were among those arrested in connection with the alleged child abuse ring and remain before the courts.
Germanotta-Mills and the others charged have not yet entered pleas. They will next face the local court in May and June.
Anyone needing support can contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028, Lifeline 13 11 14, and Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800.
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