A serial sex offender hid in plain sight for more than a decade while running a company that sponsored remote-controlled car racing events attended by children.
A serial sex offender hid in plain sight for more than a decade while running a company that sponsored remote-controlled car racing events attended by children.
Trevor Jason Lockie, 45, pleaded guilty in Melbourne County Court to possessing child abuse material and breaching sex offender reporting obligations.
Lockie, who has operated Plaig Bearings, a popular supplier for RC hobbyists, racers and sports fishermen, since 2010, had been made a registered sex offender for life in August 2018 after being convicted of transmitting and soliciting child pornography.
Prior to that, Lockie had been made a registered sex offender for eight years after his 2014 conviction for transmitting indecent communications to a person under 16 and knowingly possessing child pornography.
Lockie, who is on remand at Victoria’s sex offender prison Hopkins Correctional Centre, was arrested in December last year for further offending.
Victoria Police’s Proactive Targeting Team raided Lockie’s Taylors Hill home and seized multiple devices containing child abuse material.
Lockie told police he preyed on girls aged between eight and 16 via Snapchat while using the alias ‘brad_Istheman’.
He told officers he knew his victims were underage because he ‘would ask them’ and admitted he targeted ‘younger girls’ because it ‘aroused him more’ and he ‘got off’.
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Trevor Jason Lockie pleaded guilty to possessing child abuse material
The father of two also sent images of his penis ‘if they asked’, and ‘sent the images to try and arouse whoever he was sending it to’.
Lockie told investigators he ‘did not remember the conversation but always made sure the girls were not in Australia because he never wanted to meet anyone or do anything in real life’.
Lockie admitted to police he considered his offending ‘appalling and disgusting’ and that after he pleasured himself, he would be ‘ridden with guilt, shame, horror and hatred for himself’.
He told police that he invented the online alias ‘Brad’ to ‘enter a different frame of mind to do those things without guilt or care’.
Lockie admitted that when he found child abuse material on a website, he would ‘look through until he found something with underage girls’ aged between eight and 15.
Lockie also admitted he didn’t report his various YouTube handles to authorities, nor did he report various email addresses, some of which were linked to Plaig Bearings.
He claimed he forgot to report information and ‘over the time that he should have reported it, he deliberated on it and failed to do it due to extreme anxiety’.
Lockie also ‘explained’ that any email address he created with the domain ‘@plaig.com’ would forward to his inbox at ‘[email protected]’.
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Police analysed Lockie’s iPhone and discovered that he created the TikTok handle ‘braddy464’ in September last year.
Lockie also created other online usernames, including ‘John C***horse’ and YouTube handles ‘hsvtrev’ and ‘mister_E_Beats’.
Police discovered 53 child abuse images and videos on his devices.
Lockie was arrested, charged and remanded in custody where he has remained ever since.
The court heard that Lockie received ‘therapeutic’ sex offender treatment every time he got caught, which ‘seemed to work for a time’.
‘He appears to make progress…,’ the defence submitted.
‘He talks [during the police interview] about it creeping back in, he goes OK for a while then it creeps back in.’
Judge Neill Hutton expressed concern about the ‘efficacy’ of any further treatment Lockie may receive.
The defence also submitted that Lockie has enjoyed his time in custody, taking up reading and exercise, while relishing not being able to ‘doom-scroll’ online.
The Plaig Bearings Facebook page, which features photos from various RC racing and fishing events, has not been updated since the day before Lockie was taken into custody.
Plaig also raced remote-controlled cars under the Plaig Factory banner.
Lockie will be sentenced next month.
