A 22-year-old Melbourne man is facing 88 child pornography charges, including "encouraging" and advising on the abduction, rape and killing of a 5-year-old girl in Russia.
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Matthew David Graham, who lived in South Morang with his parents when he was arrested in a joint Victoria police/FBI sting last year, is an alleged member of an online paedophile ring on secret "dark web" sites specialising in torture and grotesque sexual acts with children, including babies and toddlers.
Graham appeared briefly in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Wednesday wearing a suit.
Police allege the offence relating to the young girl in Russia happened in June 2013. Graham also faces a charge of allegedly offering for sale a video of a toddler in Asia being sexually abused.
A further charge alleges he was "impeding the apprehension" of another Melbourne man "he believed was sexually penetrating a child and soliciting that child for child pornography." Fairfax Media has learnt this charge relates to allegedly helping other paedophiles alter photographs and videos they had produced.
Police from Taskforce Astraea say Graham distributed material on the unlisted websites accessible only through software allowing anonymous browsing. The charges against him reveal he allegedly used 12 clandestine websites, including some specialising in "hurtcore" - real depictions of violent rape and sexual assault, often including children. The FBI has acted against several of these sites in the US last year.
The details of the case have shocked senior Victorian police.
Many of the 88 charges he faces allege he "had control" of child pornography material on dark web sites "with the intention that the material be used by himself and others to commit an offence."
The statement of a US FBI officer involved in Graham's arrest and the name of one of the websites Graham allegedly controlled material on has been suppressed.
Charge sheets allege Graham used a computer tower, laptop and smartphone to commit the offences.
The South Morang house previously owned by Graham's parents, where police allege the online crimes were committed, was sold in November last year.
According to reports, Graham is a former LaTrobe University nanotechnology student.
He will appear again in court next month.
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