Police caught a child porn offender as he tried to wipe all data from his mobile phone during a home search.
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Officers raided Baileigh Franz Ahne's Bank Street home in Wodonga on October 7, 2022, with checks of his devices depicting sex acts involving children as young as eight.
The Wodonga court heard that on arrival, police spoke to his mother, and officers went to Ahne's bedroom.
He was spotted trying to perform a factory reset of his mobile phone, but police seized the device before it could be wiped.
Ahne was initially reluctant to co-operate with investigators before conceding that numerous digital devices in his room had child abuse material.
Officers seized a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet, multiple hard drives, USB sticks, mobile phones, an SD card, and rounds of ammunition.
Ahne was questioned at the Wodonga police station.
"He made full admissions at the time to accessing and knowingly possessing child abuse material," police told the court.
Two of Ahne's devices were randomly selected for analysis which found 107 illegal images and nine videos.
The files mainly depicted young girls eight to 14 engaging in sex acts, including the most serious category of offences involving adults penetrating children.
Police believe there is further child porn on other devices that haven't been examined.
The court heard Ahne faced 15 years as a registered sex offender on charges of knowingly possessing child abuse material and accessing child abuse material.
Magistrate Peter Dunn declined to view the files.
"There's some debate around whether or not judicial officers should view this material," he said.
"The preferred option is not to view it.
"Judicial officers have been reduced to tears and subject to mental health problems, as have members of the police forces from viewing this material."
Mr Dunn sought a report to examine how Ahne developed an interest in the material and whether he remains a risk to the community.
Ahne will be sentenced on April 24.