Sydney teacher allegedly groomed teenage girl online
Updated ,first published
A Sydney school teacher has been accused of grooming a 14-year-old girl online.
Police received a report last week that Benjamin David Collinge, 29, encouraged the teenager to send sexually explicit material in exchange for money as the pair communicated on social media.
At around 5.45am on Thursday detectives searched an address in Beecroft in Sydney’s north and arrested Collinge.
He was taken to the Gladesville Police Station where he was charged with using a transportation service to care for a minor and using a transportation service to access child exploitation material.
The arrest was made as part of Strike Force Trawler, the state’s Sex Crimes Squad Child Exploitation Unit’s ongoing investigation into the online sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
Collinge was denied bail and will appear in court on Thursday.
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Emily Kaine is a national news blogger for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
