A police administrative worker has been jailed after he was caught sending explicit messages to young children including telling a nine-year-old girl they’d have sex on her tenth birthday.
Daniel Schultz, 39, from Kalamunda, east of Perth, was a member of the force for 17 years before his arrest in June, 2023.
He will now spend the next five-and-a-half-years behind bars after being convicted of several child exploitation offences.
Schultz’s behaviour finally caught up with him when he began sending sexually explicit messages to an undercover officer posing as a 12-year-old girl on Skype between April and June last year, the West Australian reported.
Schultz asked the girl if she was still a virgin and told her that he knew ‘some kids your age who have sex enjoy it’, the WA District Court heard.
Police administrative worker Daniel Schultz, 39, has been jailed after sending sexually explicit messages to young children
Schultz was sentenced to five-and-a-half years behind bars in West Australia’s District Court
He also messaged her asking if they were boyfriend and girlfriend, while telling her to keep their relationship a secret from her mum.
He sent her a photo of himself, asked for one in return and told her he wanted to be her first kiss.
Police discovered Schultz also used apps Snapchat and Hangout to talk to nine other people he believed to be children under 13-years-old.
He sent sexually explicit messages to a 12-year-old German girl in May, 2019 and later in July, 2021 he exchanged messages with a 10-year-old boy who police believe Schultz had saved images of onto his phone.
The 39-year-old also wanted to plan a holiday with a nine-year-old girl who he told they’d have sex on her tenth birthday.
During his arrest, police seized several items from Schultz’ work desk and home, uncovering 1,494 child exploitation images and 999 child exploitation videos.
Schultz messaged nine children he believed to be 13-years-old or younger on Skype, Snapchat and Hangout, the court was told
The court was told Schultz confessed to using online chat rooms to speak with children for several years during his police interview.
He claimed to have never planned on meeting any of the children in person but admitted to messaging one boy for four years.
Schultz admitted he paid someone $250 in 2017 to attend a meeting with people who had access to children ‘who were fine with that sort of thing’.
He claimed nobody turned up to the meeting.
Schultz’s lawyer told the court he had remorse and was ashamed over his actions, and was willing to receive counselling.
Judge Gary Massey said Schultz’ behaviour was him ‘fulfilling a fantasy’ but did not accept it was limited to that.
The judge added Schultz had a clear sexual interest in children but said he could not find he would have met up with them.