A 37-year-old man has been charged in connection with the largest seizure of child abuse material in New South Wales history, concluding a two-and-a-half-year police investigation. Matthew Roberts was arrested at his home in South Nowra, near Wollongong, on Tuesday morning after police seized mobile phones, laptops, and iPads allegedly containing a large number of child abuse files.
Roberts faces 21 charges, including 13 counts of using a carriage service to make available child abuse material and five counts of possessing child abuse data. He appeared in Sydney's online bail court on Tuesday, where his solicitor said there would be no application for bail. The matter was adjourned to Wollongong Local Court on July 1.
Roberts is the final person charged in NSW as part of Strike Force Glandore, which investigated an international cloud-based storage platform used to share child abuse images. The operation led to 62 arrests—61 men and one woman—and the seizure of the largest amount of child abuse files in a single investigation in NSW history. Police conducted 150 raids and laid nearly 400 charges.
Sex Crimes Squad Acting Superintendent Adam Powderly said the alleged offenders came from all walks of life, with ages ranging from 18 to the late 70s. He noted that 20 children across Australia were identified from the images, and authorities have taken steps to ensure their protection. The investigation was aided by cooperation from the cloud-based company, which allowed police to access linked accounts despite user anonymity.
NSW Police continue to work with the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation and share information with other states to track down remaining alleged participants. Superintendent Powderly described the operation as historic and emphasized the ongoing threat posed by online child abuse networks.
