Australian Man Faces 145 Charges Related To Child Sexual Abuse; 28 Victims Identified

An Australian man faces 145 charges of rape, child exploitation and grooming offenses he allegedly committed in three states in the country. The man reportedly committed the crimes between 2002 and 2015.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is set to face five counts of rape, four charges of indecent treatment of children, and eight charges of grooming children to engage in sexual acts, police officials said, according to the BBC.

The 47-year-old from Brisbane is also charged with 20 counts of involving children in making child exploitation material, 11 counts of making child exploitation material, two counts of making a child abuse film, and one count of distributing child exploitation material, the Daily Mail reported.

Officials reportedly said they have identified 28 victims in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

"In some cases it will be alleged victims met the man and were subsequently taken to a hotel room where offences were committed," the BBC reported, citing a statement from the Queensland Police.

The investigation was jointly conducted by the Warwick Child Protection and Investigation Unit and detectives from Taskforce Argos and the Queensland Police Service specialist online child exploitation team.

The man also reportedly used fake names like “Jazz," "Jazzman" and "David Bourne" on social media sites to target the children.

"The parents of children should be aware of the consequences of not having control over the social media that their children have engaged in," Detective Inspector Dave Isherwood said, according to the Australian.

The latest case comes as Australian Federal Police (AFP) are examining a hard drive with "many thousands" of images showing child sex abuse, which were allegedly taken by an Australian man arrested last month in the Philippines, the BBC reported.