Predators recruit kids to commit some of Victoria’s most serious crimes as adult crime bosses hide in shadows

They are organised crime “brokers”, online “taskers” and suburban drug addicts accused of using Victorian children as disposable foot soldiers.

Police allege a 20-year-old living with his family in Essendon was directing a criminal network with hundreds of potential offenders at his fingertips.

On the Mornington Peninsula, a methamphetamine addict coached intellectually disabled teenagers to steal cars, rewarded them with drugs and taught them how to evade police.

They are among the adults exposed in Victoria’s growing child recruitment racket — a ruthless crime-for-hire system in which children are paid to steal “kill cars”, torch businesses, invade homes and kidnap strangers.

Former detective superintendent Vincent Hurley said organised crime had undergone a “massive, massive shift” towards outsourcing violence during the past five years.

At the top sits the organised crime syndicate. Beneath it is a “violence broker” who recruits people to carry out individual jobs. At the bottom are the children sent onto the streets to take almost all the risk.

“These brokers are just like a mortgage broker,” Dr Hurley said.

“That violence broker will get a fee, literally just like a mortgage broker, and then they will go and recruit these young kids for a fee.

“They might offer them initially $60,000, but then they’ll only give them $6000.

“They tempt them with a high price, and for someone who’s 14 to 17 years old, if they can make $1000 or $2000 in cash, cryptocurrency or drugs, then those kids will happily go and do whatever it is they need to do.”

The result has been described as an Airtasker for criminals: a shadow marketplace where serious violence can be divided into separate jobs and outsourced to vulnerable young people.

Dr Hurley said one child might steal a car, another could watch a house ahead of a shooting and others may be sent to carry out the attack.

“So you hear about these kill cars — they will outsource stealing the car to a kid,” the Macquarie University criminologist said.

“They’ll outsource another kid to do intelligence gathering on a premises for a drive-by shooting. Then they could outsource the actual job to someone else.”

Children were now being recruited for fire bombings, tobacco and hospitality wars, drive-by shootings and kidnappings at a fraction of what it would cost to hire an adult.

“You name it,” he said. “It’s unlimited.

“It’s happening across Australia, but primarily in New South Wales and Victoria.”

Police allege 20-year-old Jesse Hadchiti sat near the top of that criminal supply chain.

The former private school student allegedly described himself as an “ordinary kid who goes to the gym and runs an empire from his home”.

But Victoria Police claims Hadchiti was a high-ranking member of The Commission, the organised crime syndicate linked to exiled underworld boss Kazem “Kaz” Hamad.

Hadchiti was arrested on July 14 in what Operation Eclipse Detective Inspector Graham Banks called the force’s “most consequential arrest” since Melbourne’s tobacco wars erupted in 2023.

Police allege Hadchiti used encrypted messaging applications to order violent crimes under different online handles, including “CommBank” — a name investigators believe referred to the wealth he was generating for the syndicate.

He allegedly boasted of having more than 2000 potential offenders at his disposal.

Hadchiti has been charged with offences including kidnapping, extortion with threats to kill, false imprisonment, attempted arson, aggravated home invasion and three counts of recruiting a child to engage in criminal activity.

He has not entered pleas and remains in custody ahead of his next court appearance in October.

Dr Hurley, who spent almost 30 years in the NSW Police Force, said children were “easy pickings” for brokers because they were attracted to fast money and rarely grasped the danger.

“If you flash a couple of thousand dollars in front of them, they just go, ‘Oh yeah, absolutely — quick way to make cash’,” he said.

“The violence broker may not necessarily tell the young kids all the risks involved.

“As long as the job gets done, they don’t care.

“It’s almost risk-free to the principal or the organised crime group or syndicate, having this outsourced to some random individual who doesn’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.”

While Hadchiti is accused of operating inside an international crime syndicate, convicted child recruiter Aaron Torpy preyed on vulnerable teenagers closer to home.

Torpy, 30, recruited intellectually disabled boys to steal cars during a crime spree across the Mornington Peninsula last year.

One boy reportedly had the emotional and cognitive capacity of a seven-year-old.

According to the Herald Sun, Torpy gave the teenagers drugs, handed out gloves and balaclavas and coached them on how to steal vehicles, conceal evidence and avoid detection.

Recordings captured by his own home camera system revealed Torpy explaining how a device purchased online could override a vehicle’s security system and generate a new key.

He advised the teenagers to leave their phones behind while offending and to wear different clothes if they later attended a police station.

Torpy also discussed staking out shopping centres for high-performance cars and told his associates to hide stolen property as he anticipated another police raid.

A police summary reportedly described footage of Torpy “harbouring and coaching” the children as confronting and said it demonstrated his lack of care for the consequences they faced.

Earlier this month, Torpy was sentenced to 12 months in prison and ordered to complete a three-year community corrections order after his release.

Magistrate Tony Burns described Torpy’s crimes as “reprehensible” and said it was difficult to imagine a more “cynical” display of offending.

RMIT Associate Professor of Criminology and Justice Marietta Martinovic said recruiters deliberately targeted vulnerable children they could exploit.

Those who had experienced trauma, family violence, neglect, substance abuse, homelessness or disengagement from school were particularly at risk.

Others could simply be searching for money, excitement, status or somewhere to belong.

“Whatever the unmet need is, that’s what the criminal group is offering,” Dr Martinovic said.

“We’re hearing about teenagers from the age of 13 and up, which is really, really problematic.

“There’s usually some kind of grooming that takes place, which is a gradual process that builds trust and dependence prior to the offending.

“And sometimes, of course, there would be the use of threats or intimidation.”

While children have historically been recruited in person, social media, encrypted messaging and online communities have dramatically expanded the recruiters’ reach.

“What we’ve got now is a much more upscale recruitment style,” Dr Martinovic said.

Children as young as 13 were being sucked into crime without knowing who was ultimately directing them or grasping the risks.

“Brains develop by the age of 25,” she said.

“What does a 13-year-old understand? What does a 15-year-old understand?

“They’re all looking for the next big thing on social media, getting enough likes and looking cool, driving at 200 kilometres an hour.

“It’s just so complex to rationalise any of this behaviour, and of course that’s why they’re being used and abused.”

Last month, the Victorian Government introduced legislation creating an aggravated child recruitment offence carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment when children are recruited to commit any of 71 serious crimes, including arson, carjacking and home invasion.

The existing offence carries a maximum 15-year sentence, and about 70 charges have already been laid.

But Dr Martinovic said tougher penalties would not deter children chasing quick cash, excitement or belonging.

“Young people aren’t sitting there reading legislation or newspaper articles saying, ‘Oh, there are now tougher laws’,” she said.

“That’s just such naive adult thinking.”

She said preventing child exploitation required early intervention, education, family support, school engagement and digital literacy rather than relying solely on law enforcement.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to realise these children involved in these types of crimes are actual victims, as well as offenders,” she said.

“The vast majority of young people grow out of crime and antisocial behaviour, but only if they’re given a chance.

“If they are processed through the criminal justice system and labelled as criminals, then they do not age out of crime.

“They keep spiralling in and out of prison and institutions, and that’s how they end up costing the state billions and billions.”