A 46-year-old man has been arrested after allegedly trying to meet a “young” teenage girl for sex.
The man was arrested on Friday last week after an investigation by Hawke’s Bay Police and the Online Child Exploitation Across NZ (OCEANZ) unit.
Hawke’s Bay Police said the investigation was launched after OCEANZ received information that the man was allegedly “attempting to contact young girls for the purposes of sexual abuse”.
He faces three charges of indecent communication with a young person under 16, and one charge of travelling to meet a young person-sex grooming.
The man was scheduled to appear in the Hastings District Court today.
Detective Senior Sergeant John McCarthy said the investigation was ongoing, and police were not ruling out 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,” he said.
“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.”
Detective Sergeant Alex MacDonald said the school holidays were a great time to “sit down with your kids and have a conversation about how to stay safe online”.
“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,” he said.