A man charged with 73 child sex offences allegedly committed a significant proportion of them on a single day.
It can now be revealed police allege childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown, 26, committed 18 offences on April 28, 2022, while working at a Melbourne daycare centre.
The revelations follow a Daily Mail Australia report that indicated a child linked to a daycare centre Brown worked at had been infected with a sexually transmitted disease.
Sources close to the investigation claimed a young child had been diagnosed with gonorrhoea.
Charge sheets released to the media late on Tuesday suggest police allege Brown is accused of committing 18 offences on a single day while working at a Point Cook centre, in Melbourne’s west.
The charges linked to that day include multiple counts of sexually touching an unknown child aged under 16, engaging in a sexual activity in the presence of an unknown child under the age of 16, and the production and transmission of child abuse material.
He was allegedly at it again just weeks later, police claim, charging him with even more offences on May 31.
Again, the alleged offences related to sexually touching a child, and producing and transmitting child abuse material.
Joshua Dale Brown, 26, of Point Cook in Melbourne, interacted with children at 23 daycare centres where he worked. Brown has been charged with more than 70 child sex offences
Five months later, police alleged Brown engaged yet again in sexual activity in the presence of an unknown child aged under 16, as well as multiple counts of sexually touching an unknown child aged under 16 and producing and transmitting child abuse material.
Two months later, on December 2, 2022, it’s alleged Brown sexually touched an unknown child aged under 16 and produced and transmitted child abuse material.
That same day, police allege Brown contaminated food with bodily fluids. It is this alleged crime that sparked a massive public health warning, with the parents of 2,000 children urged by authorities to have them tested for infectious diseases after Brown’s alleged offending was revealed on July 1.
On December 15, 2022, detectives allege Brown attempted to sexually penetrate a child under 12 years of age.
It was the very same day they claim he also sexually touched an unknown child aged under 16 and produced child abuse material.
Police allege Brown’s offending carried on into the following year, when he allegedly struck again during the summer school holiday period.
On January 10, 2023, Brown allegedly ‘took part in an act of sexual penetration with an unknown child under the age of 12 years’ using his penis.
Police allege Brown committed 18 offences on April 28, 2022 while working at a Melbourne daycare centre
On the same day, police allege he also ‘intentionally took part in an act of sexual penetration with an unknown child under the age of 12 years’ using his finger, sexually touched an unknown child under the age of 16 and produced and transmitted child abuse material.
The remaining charges are alleged to be linked to various dates between July 17, 2023, and December 5, 2023, and in January and May of this year.
Brown had worked at a total of 23 childcare centres over an eight-year period between January 2017 and May 2025.
On Tuesday, Brown fronted the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, where the court heard Victorian detectives still faced a mammoth task to finalise their case against the alleged child molester.
Brown has engaged top Melbourne barrister Rishi Nathwani KC to head his defence.
In attempting to have his client’s charge sheets withheld from the media, Mr Nathwani revealed the case against his client remained very much ‘in flux’.
An affidavit supplied by detectives to the court said the investigation was incomplete and needed more time to compile the final brief of evidence against Brown.
‘Your honour has had the benefit of the affidavit which indicates that the police are working very hard,’ Mr Nathwani said.
The alleged offending happened during Brown’s time at Creative Garden Early Learning Centre Point Cook (pictured), where he worked between October 2021 and February 2024
‘There’s quite a lot for them to get through and as a consequence your honour sees there’s discussion there about potential further charges and I would say potential amendments, changes etc going forward (to the brief).
‘So at this stage it’s entirely premature, given how serious this is, and it could prejudice any future proceedings.
‘I ask your honour to resist it, not grant it at this stage and revisit it once we have the full brief of evidence when matters are properly known and I anticipate a different summary, with more detail and potentially different charges.’
While no formal application for a suppression order was made, the informal application to hide the charges from the public was opposed by the media on the grounds the court had a mandate to open justice.
Magistrate Donna Bakos agreed, telling Mr Nathwani the charges were a matter of public record.
‘They’re filed and ordinarily the press are granted access to charge sheets … unless there is good reason, obviously, not to,’ she said.
Ms Bakos granted the media access to the charge sheets.
Brown’s co-accused, Michael Simon Wilson, 36, faces 45 charges ranging from rape to child porn possession, transmission and production, as well as ‘sexually penetrating an animal, namely a dog’.
Michael Simon Wilson is accused of raping a dog. The relationship between Wilson, who is not a childcare worker, and Brown remains unclear
Wilson has also been charged with using a carriage service to transmit material to a person that directly or indirectly incited committing suicide.
The relationship between Wilson, who is not a childcare worker, and Brown remains unclear.
Charge sheets indicated both men are facing charges that were allegedly committed on the same dates, including on April 28, 2022, when Brown allegedly committed multiple counts of child abuse material production and Wilson allegedly committed multiple counts of possession and access of child abuse material.
Both men will reappear in court on separate dates, with Brown not due back until February next year.
