Young Australian of the Year finalist is jailed for grooming young boys and encouraging them to send him naked photos on Snapchat
- William Russell sentenced to two-and-a-half-years in jail for grooming children
- He had been sending messages requesting naked photos from boys aged 15, 16
- Finalist for Young South Australian of Year for starting anti-bullying organisation
- Police raided his home after he said children were asking him for nude photos
A Young South Australian of the Year finalist has been jailed after he encouraged young boys to send him naked photos on Snapchat.
William Russell, 25, from Adelaide, was jailed for two-and-a-half years at the District Court on Wednesday with a non-parole period of 12 months.
The 25-year-old, who has an intellectual disability, was busted after he told The Sunday Mail that children were asking him to send through nude photos, in an article on online predators in August 2017.
District Court Chief Judge Michael Evans said his comments sparked police to raid his home which lead to him being charged, The ABC reported.
William Russell (pictured) was jailed for two-and-a-half-years for grooming children and possessing child exploitation material
Russell was nominated for the award in 2017 for creating the anti-bullying social media organisation, The Teen Network.
He had pleaded guilty to procuring a child for sexual activity and aggravated possessing child exploitation material in August.
‘In the article, you are quoted as saying, that within minutes of logging into a site with your personal profile, you had teenagers as young as 13 looking for nude pictures of you,’ Jude Evans said.
‘You were also quoted as saying that a 15-year-old boy from Blakeview asked to meet up with you and have sex.’
During the raids, police found that Russell was actually the one who had been requesting naked photos from boys aged between 15 and 16 on apps like Snapchat and KIK.
‘There were also conversations with other children, attempting to organise to meet and engage in sexual conduct,’ he said.
Russell (pictured) had been sending teenage boys messages asking for them to send nude photos
In another message, Russell had asked a 15-year-old boy to send him naked photos before meeting up to ‘kiss and hug’, the court heard.
Judge Evans said that due to his intellectual disability, Russell was unable to have any empathy for his victims.
In addition to his grooming offences, the 25-year-old had possessed 51 images of child exploitation material, The Advertiser reported.
‘You satisfy the diagnosis for paedophilia… you are not a serious repeat offender, but you have committed a serious sexual offence,’ Judge Evans said.
The Teen Network was shut down earlier this year.
The 25-year-old had been a finalist for the Young South Australian of the year after starting anti-bullying social media organisation, The Teen Network