Tasman Police have arrested and charged a man in relation to a Police operation targeting online offending against young people.
The 54-year-old Hokitika man was arrested in Greymouth on Friday following an investigation in which the man had allegedly been communicating online with a person he believed to be 13 years old.
“Police allege that during these interactions, the man engaged in behaviour consistent with grooming and subsequently travelled with the intention of meeting the young person”, said Detective Senior Sergeant Brent Lyford.
He is due to appear in Greymouth District Court today, charged with exposing a young person to indecent material, grooming a young person for sexual conduct, and meeting a young person following sexual grooming.
Police have opposed the man’s bail.
“This operation was carried out to disrupt and prevent harm to children – Police have zero tolerance for this type of offending, and we remain committed to identifying and holding offenders to account.
“We urge parents, caregivers, and young people, to remain vigilant online and tread carefully when engaging with people that you do not personally know.
“Any suspicious or inappropriate behaviour, online or otherwise, should be reported immediately through 111 if there is immediate danger – all non-urgent information can be reported through 105, either online or over the phone.”
Information can also be reported anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
Image credit: Moritz Kindler
Operation Copper Perv’s Distraction…..
“Hokitika” man 😐👍
mcskimming has a hide out in Hokitika???????
Compare the hypocrisy…
https://dailytelegraph.co.nz/news/three-cops-face-child-exploitation-material-charges/
Quite a number of ..’men’…always seem to gravitate to Thailand, the Philippines, and some parts of Eastern Europe to ‘meet-up’ outside of NZ jurisdiction & territory.
In Germany, the ‘age of consent’ is 14. No wonder the age of the 40+ crowd of divorced / widowed / never married men are lining-up for Oktoberfest!
So, I doubt that INTERPOL would be involved in stopping cannibalistic paedophiles from visiting places where it’s shamefully ‘legal’ to ‘hook-up’ with a 14 year old or younger, ie the Roma populations in Eastern Europe where one can purchase a ‘child bride’…
And yet, some of these ‘couples’ of this make-up in vast age differences do go on and get married, and later have children…where societal norms are then accepting of the same when the younger person in the relationship hits 16 or 18, with the other spouse being 30-40 years older. There was less scrutiny in the past when nations were trying to establish themselves…
Such was the case with the Victorian & Edwardian Era under Colonialism…young girls dowried-off to an older established man in order to insure the Status Quo and ‘Societal Standing’ in the ‘Community’ would remain intact.
Don’t even get me started on the Middle East,…!