Police said those involved developed a “sophisticated online child abuse network” and that some of the offenders produced their own material to share with other members.
They added that they were all likely employed in occupations that required a high degree of tech knowledge.
FBI agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger.
Asher was one of those men, the only one from WA, and when police raided his Perth home last year they found three laptops and another device containing hundreds of photos and videos of girls.
They were in states of undress, Perth District Court heard on Thursday, and the images were focused on genitals and breasts.
The court heard Asher confessed to searching for and downloading the images. He also told police he was a paedophile and gave them passwords to the laptops.
“He told police he had a sexual attraction to teenagers,” federal prosecutor Isobel Saville told the court.
While being sentenced for three counts of having child abuse material he had accessed using a carriage system and one count of using a carriage service to access child pornography material, the court heard Asher was “a gifted child” who excelled in English and maths at school before going on to university.
His career as an IT whiz soared but after losing both of his adopted parents as a child, his mental health declined and he was prone to bouts of depression. It was in those times that he sought solace in child pornography, the court heard.
“You told police that you identified as a paedophile,” judge Belinda Lonsdale said.
“You told police you had been accessing child exploitation material for some time.”
The court heard Asher had few friend ..
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