Vic: Man charged with child sex offences

AAP General News (Australia)
04-01-2010
Vic: Man charged with child sex offences

EDS: Changes keyword from MINORS

By Jamie Duncan

MELBOURNE, March 31 AAP - A man who contacted teenage girls via a social networking
site and pretended he was a model and band manager has been charged with rape and indecent
assault, police say.

John Raymond Zimmerman, 24, of Screen Street, Frankston, faced an out-of-sessions court
hearing at Nunawading police station in Melbourne's east on Wednesday night.

He was charged with 16 counts each of rape and sexual penetration of a child under
16, five counts of stalking, three of indecent assault, one count of threats to kill and
one count of procuring a child for the purposes of child pornography.

The offences date back 18 months and involve three victims - two of whom were aged
14 and one who was 13 at the time of the offences.

Nunawading CIU Detective Sergeant Craig Brien told the hearing Zimmerman set up two
accounts on a social networking website, one with his own details and one with false details
and photographs purporting to be those of a 17-year-old boy.

He said Zimmerman told girls he contacted that he managed a popular teenage band and
was a model, and that he could give them an entree to the modelling world.

The first alleged victim, a 13-year-old, was convinced by Zimmerman using the false
profile to exchange intimate photographs.

Police allege he coerced her to meet him and told her he would distribute the pictures
to her family, friends and teachers.

The girl was raped on three occasions at a park near her home until Zimmerman promised
to destroy the images, police say.

The girl reported the matter to police in November last year after Zimmerman contacted
her using his original profile and demanded sex in exchange for the images.

The second alleged victim was 14 when she was contacted by Zimmerman last year.

She agreed to meet him in October last year after persistent badgering online, Det
Sgt Brien said.

The girl was allegedly raped on three occasions after Zimmerman threatened to tell
her boyfriend of their online relationship unless she had sex with him.

The accused was arrested in November last year but was released without charge pending
further inquiries and warned not to contact young girls.

A third alleged victim came forward this month, alleging she had been raped by Zimmerman in 2008.

The girl, now 16, said she and Zimmerman exchanged intimate photographs, and she was
coerced into two meetings with him in which she was raped.

He had been in contact with the girl as late as March 17, asking if police had asked
her any questions about him.

Zimmerman, a retail salesman, was arrested at his workplace in Collingwood on Wednesday
following a joint operation between Nunawading and sexual crimes squad detectives.

Two other alleged victims have reported to police, who are now investigating their cases.

Det Sgt Brien said police opposed bail for Zimmerman, saying the accused had more than
8000 online contacts, including many young girls who police would now investigate, and
Zimmerman had been in contact with his alleged victims since his arrest in November.

The bail justice refused bail, saying he "almost can't find the words to describe"

the seriousness of the alleged offences.

Zimmerman was remanded in custody to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

Detectives have asked anyone who suspects they may have had contact with Zimmerman
to come forward.

AAP jrd/jl

KEYWORD: ZIMMERMAN (CHANGES KEYWORD)

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