A police administrative worker has been jailed after he was caught sending explicit messages to young children, including telling a nine-year-old girl they would have sex on her 10th birthday.
Daniel Schultz, 39, from Kalamunda, east of Perth, was a member of the force for 17 years before his arrest in June 2023.
He will now spend the next five and a half years behind bars after being found guilty of several child exploitation offences.
Schultz’s behavior finally caught up with him when he began sending sexually explicit messages to an undercover officer posing as a 12-year-old girl via Skype between April and June of last year, police said. Western Australia reported.
Schultz asked the girl if she was still a virgin and told her he knew “some boys his age who have sex enjoy it”, the WA District Court heard.
Police administrative worker Daniel Schultz, 39, has been jailed after sending sexually explicit messages to young children.
Schultz was sentenced to five and a half years behind bars in the District Court of Western Australia.
He also sent her a message asking if they were dating, while telling her to keep their relationship a secret from her mother.
He sent her a photo of himself, asked her for one in return, and told her he wanted to be her first kiss.
Police discovered that Schultz also used the Snapchat and Hangout apps to talk to nine other people he believed were children under the age of 13.
He sent sexually explicit messages to a 12-year-old German girl in May 2019 and later, in July 2021, exchanged messages with a 10-year-old boy who police believe Schultz had saved images of on his phone.
The 39-year-old also wanted to plan a holiday with a nine-year-old girl who he told they would have sex when she turned ten.
During his arrest, police confiscated several items from Schultz’s desk and home, discovering 1,494 images of child exploitation and 999 videos of child exploitation.
Schultz sent messages to nine children he believed were 13 or younger via Skype, Snapchat and Hangout, the court was told.
The court was told Schultz confessed to using online chat rooms to talk to children for several years during his police interview.
He claimed he had never planned to meet any of the boys in person, but admitted to messaging one boy for four years.
Schultz admitted he paid someone $250 in 2017 to attend a meeting with people who had access to children “who were cool with that kind of stuff.”
He stated that no one attended the meeting.
Schultz’s attorney told the court that he felt remorse and shame for his actions and was willing to receive counseling.
Judge Gary Massey said Schultz’s behavior was “fulfilling a fantasy” but did not accept it was limited to that.
The judge added that Schultz had a clear sexual interest in children, but said he could not find that he had met with them.