A ‘tech savvy’ young man who worked as a kindergarten cleaner has been allowed bail after he allegedly used a hidden bathroom camera to create child abuse material.
Chris Rankin, 35, was employed at a childcare centre in Mildura, Victoria, when police arrested him in June and allegedly found 300 images on personal storage devices.
He was slapped with multiple counts of possession and production of child abuse material, including altering images of children using Photoshop, the ABC reported.
Rankin appeared over an AV link on Thursday at Mildura Magistrates’ Court as Magistrate Michael Coghlan granted him bail under strict conditions.
This included Rankin staying with his parents and not using the internet unless for banking or to complete a tax return while supervised by a parent.
He is forbidden from contacting witnesses apart from the informant.
Magistrate Coghlan allowed the bail due to the fact there might be a delay between the decision today and a committal mention or criminal trial.
During the hearing on Rankin’s bail application, Detective Senior Constable Casey said officers had found 5,000 more images of child abuse material since the arrest.
Kindergarten cleaner Chris Rankin (pictured) is accused of producing child abuse material
Police allege they found thousands of images on Rankin’s personal devices after his arrest
‘I’ve been able to analyse all devices except for the computer tower, and I have confirmed that there is child abuse material on the computer tower,’ he told the court.
‘All of the devices that have been triaged I’ve located approximately 5,000 more images of child abuse material within those devices.
‘The tower is three to four times the size of the other devices and will take longer to triage.’
Constable Casey said he would need a further five weeks to look into the extent of Rankin’s alleged offenses.
He also told the court the risk of the alleged paedophile was ‘tech-savvy’ and the risk of him interfering by deleting images was lowered but not non-existent.
In a previous appearance, the court had heard some of the material was allegedly recorded through a hidden bathroom camera.
It was not confirmed by Constable Casey whether Rankin’s Working with Children Check has been cancelled but his former employer has ‘taken strides’ to remove access to the company’s kindergartens.
Rankin’s social media lists him as a former teacher aide at Merbein P-10 College but the Herald Sun reports none of the alleged victims are thought to have attended there.
A hand-up brief is due on August 13, ahead of a committal mention expected on September 24.
