A 46-year-old man has been arrested and charged by Police, after allegedly attempting to meet a young teenage girl for sex.

The man was arrested on Friday 4 October following an investigation by Hawke’s Bay Police and the OCEANZ (Online Child Exploitation Across NZ) unit.

He is facing three charges of indecent communication with a young person under 16, and one charge of travelling to meet a young person-sex grooming.

Detective Sergeant Alex MacDonald says OCEANZ had received information that the man was allegedly attempting to contact young girls for the purposes of sexual abuse.

“This kind of offending in our communities is incredibly alarming and serves as an excellent reminder of the need to be vigilant around online safety for children and young people,” says Detective Sergeant MacDonald.

“The school holidays would be a great time to sit down with your kids and have a conversation about how to stay safe online. You can find information on the Police website [1] to help with those conversations.”

The man charged with this offending is scheduled to appear in Hastings District Court today (Monday 7 October).

Detective Senior Sergeant John McCarthy from Hawke’s Bay Police’s Child Protection Team says the investigation into this matter is ongoing and is not ruling out identifying further victims.

“We will continue to work with OCEANZ to ensure that offenders targeting young people in our community in this way are held to account for their actions,” says Detective Senior Sergeant McCarthy.

“We urge anyone with concerns about potential criminal behaviour targeting children or young people to get in touch with Police so that we can investigate.”

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