Police seized a total of 1542 files containing child abuse material stored on Tracey’s phone and external hard drive when they searched his Shepparton East home on March 10, 2023, after the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported him to the Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team.
Of those files, 668 images and 221 videos were evaluated as category one, or the worst under the Interpol Baseline Scale, and 538 images and 70 videos were evaluated as category two.
The videos contained children aged three to 14 years old and ranged from 11 seconds to two hours and 40 minutes, with the majority being under 10 minutes.
Tracey told police he was the only person who used the phone, he would watch the videos to “relieve himself”, and the urge to download the material would “come and go”.
He also had memberships to 15 websites where he would spend $1000 to $5000 to access child abuse material.
In sentencing Tracey, Judge Robyn Harper called the material he possessed and accessed “particularly graphic and depraved”.
She said this type of offending was “increasingly prevalent” and hard to detect.
Judge Harper acknowledged Tracey had been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder from a young age, which meant he was often focused and stuck on one thing at a time.
However, she said it didn’t explain his initial or ongoing attraction to the material.
She also acknowledged Tracey needed treatment for his paedophilia disorder.
Tracey worked in early childhood education for one year, which Judge Harper called a “troubling” career given the charges.
Judge Harper noted Tracey’s “ongoing family support” from his father, who said he was “disgusted and upset” by his son’s offending, but would give him somewhere to live when he got out of prison.
Judge Harper also noted Tracey had no criminal history, had made full admissions to police and expressed “shame, regret and remorse” for his actions.
When sentencing Tracey to prison time, Judge Harper said his offending was “not a victimless crime”, and it caused real and lasting harm to the children who were involved in the making of the material.
“You clearly knew what you were doing, and you knew it was wrong,” she said.
“No other sentence is appropriate.”
Tracey was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but will be released after 10 months under a recognisance release order of $1000.
Conditions under the order include that Tracey must be of good behaviour for three years, engage in treatments and programs for sex offenders and engage with corrections.
If he does not meet these conditions, he will have to pay $1000 and serve the remaining eight months of his prison sentence.
Tracey also must comply with sex offender reporting obligations for 15 years.
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