Ben McCormack, a former reporter for Nine Network's A Current Affair, has pleaded guilty to two charges of using a carriage service to transmit, publish or promote child pornography. The 43-year-old appeared in Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday, where an agreed statement of facts was tendered.
According to court documents, McCormack, who used the online handle Oz4skinboi, engaged in conversations with another man over two years, expressing a sexual interest in young boys. In one exchange from July 2015, he described himself as 'a total b loving pedo' and said of boys, 'They are beautiful'.
McCormack's lawyer, Sam Macedone, stressed that no images of child exploitation material were traded. 'It was nothing more than fantasy talk, but no transporting of images,' Macedone told reporters outside court. The agreed facts note that while images were exchanged, there is no evidence they depicted children in pornographic poses.
McCormack was arrested in April after police raided the ACA Sydney office and his home. He was suspended by Nine Network and later resigned. He is scheduled to reappear in court on 6 October.
