VICTORIA, Australia — An Australian primary school teacher has pleaded guilty to sending inappropriate photos to a teenager from Colorado, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO).
That Milgate Primary School teacher has been identified as Liam Wilkinson. He took a plea deal on March 28, and the JCSO said he made an agreement with prosecutors because the testimony given by an investigator at a pre-trial hearing was “so compelling.”
It was the culmination of a 2-year-long probe that began in March 2019, when investigators learned that a man had been sending a 13-year-old student inappropriate photos.
Cheezo, the agency’s child sex offender investigations unit, took over the case, and deputies said Wilkinson later sent more inappropriate photos of himself to a law-enforcement officer who took over the victim’s persona online.
Wilkinson, who lives in Warrandyte, Victoria, was later identified as the person who sent the photos, and Jefferson County investigators collaborated with Interpol and the Australian Federal Police to execute a search warrant. Charges were later filed.
According to a document posted by the Victoria Institute of Teaching, Wilkinson has been suspended from his position since 2019.
According to JCSO, Cheezo has been responsible for more than 920 arrests in Jefferson County.
The unit also gives more than 150 presentations each year on phone and internet safety.
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