Australian who impersonated Justin Bieber accused of paedophilia
Brisbane, March 9 (IANS) An Australian law professor has been charged with over 900 sex offences against children after he posed as Justin Bieber online and asked for explicit photos from fans on social media, the police said on Thursday.
Gordon Douglas Chalmers, 42, a resident of Queensland, was detained in November on suspicion of paedophilia after authorities in Germany and the US alerted the Australian authorities, Efe news reported.
The police raided Chalmers’ house in Brisbane, and accused him of using servers to contact children less than 16 years old and to access child pornography material.
Although he refused to provide access to his social media accounts and cloud server, after examining his computer, the police charged him with another 931 sexual offences against minors this week, including rape, indecent treatment of children and making child exploitation material.
The police believe the accused began to lure children in 2007 using social media platforms such as Facebook and Skype to impersonate as the Canadian pop singer and persuade minors to send him explicit photos.
“This investigation demonstrates both the vulnerability of children that are utilising social media and communication applications and the global reach and skills that child sex offenders employ to groom and seduce victims,” said Detective Inspector Jon Rous.
