Sexual predator Jack Anthony Martens jailed for abusing kids on popular social media and gaming platforms

The sickening chat logs of an online predator who used some of the most popular social media, messaging and gaming platforms to target children – as young as five years old – have been revealed in a scathing court judgement.

Late last year Jack Anthony Martens was sentenced in the Wagga Wagga District Court to 16 years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 10 years and six months, after pleading guilty to 28 child abuse material-related offences.

The New South Wales man sexually abused dozens of pubescent and prepubescent girls over popular platforms including Skype, Snapchat, Kik, Discord, Omegle and Google Hangouts.

The court judgement reveals that between October 2020 and September 2021, Martens had engaged in highly-sexualised conversations with dozens of children under 16 years of age using various social media and messaging applications on his Samsung Galaxy mobile phone.

The youngest of Martens’ 26 known victims was only five years old.

He also shared child abuse material with other adults, and discussed with them – over various social media and messaging platforms – engaging in sexual activity with a child.

Martens, who was 23 at the time of his offending, communicated directly with child victims as well as adults – including women – who had access to young girls.

The now 25-year-old used online aliases including BeastMaster1, BeastMaster765, Daddy, dirtydaddy117, bigjack1723 and Jake Morty.

Judge Gordon Lerve described Martens’ language when communicating with children online as explicit, crude, vulgar, highly sexualised and graphic.

Martens’ depraved online chats – which The Nightly has chosen not to publish – reveal he encouraged children to produce sexual abuse material, perform bestiality and self-harm.

In one case, the messages exchanged indicate he instructed a 14-year-old girl to have sex with an unknown man in a public toilet at a truck stop.

In April 2021, Martens engaged in sexual activity with a child over Skype.

He also repeatedly expressed fantasies about kidnapping his victims.

“Now one part of being kidnapped is complete obedience,” he told one young girl.

Judge Lerve said Martens’ conduct indicated a “degree of persistence” throughout his offending, which came to light after a tip-off from the United States’ National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.

In May 2021 the NCMEC reported an online user, who was uploading child abuse material to an online cloud storage platform, to the Australian Federal Police-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation.

AFP investigators identified Martens as the online user and executed a search warrant at his workplace and home near Young.

During the search, police seized Martens’ mobile phone and a forensic review of the device revealed more than 1000 files containing child abuse material.

Investigators also identified online conversations across various chat platforms in which he would solicit and receive child abuse material from child victims.

Martens was arrested and charged with 28 child abuse material-related offences.

In September 2022, he pleaded guilty to:

• Ten counts of using a carriage service to transmit indecent communication to persons under 16 years of age,
• Five counts of using a carriage service to cause child abuse material to be transmitted to self,
• Seven counts of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material,
• Two counts of using a carriage service to solicit child abuse material, one count of possessing child abuse material accessed or obtained using a carriage service,
• One count of using a carriage service to “groom” another person to make it easier to procure persons under 16 years of age,
• One count of using a carriage for sexual activity, and
• One count of using a carriage service to procure a person under 16 years of age.

During his sentencing, Judge Lerve took into account Martens’ early guilty pleas, exposure to domestic violence as a child and mental health issues.

AFP Detective Superintendent Peter Fogarty said possessing child abuse material was not a victimless crime.

“This sentence should serve as a warning to those predators who have engaged in this abhorrent behaviour,” he said.

“The AFP is unrelenting in its efforts to protect minors and our community’s most vulnerable. Children are not commodities to be used for the abhorrent gratification of sexual predators.

“Alongside our partners both domestically and abroad we will continue to work around the clock to identify and prosecute those responsible for committing these abhorrent crimes against children.”

Members of the public who have information about people involved in child abuse are urged to contact the ACCCE.

If you know abuse is happening right now or a child is at risk, call police immediately on 000.

If you or someone you know is impacted by child sexual abuse and online exploitation, support services are available.