A former police officer who was active in local sporting organisations has been revealed as a pedophile, pleading guilty to a foul child sex offence.
Robert Charles Warland stood in the dock before Magistrate Karim Soetratma at Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday and admitted to communicating to make a child under the age of 17 amenable to sexual activity.
Warland, 71, spoke quietly when he entered his guilty plea.
The grooming occurred in Berri, South Australia, between May 15 and May 23, 2022, Mr Soetratma said.
At an earlier hearing at the Berri Magistrates Court, police prosecutor Hugh Bampton said Warland’s communication with the child “extended over a period of time with multiple platforms, communications platforms, servers”, the Adelaide Advertiser reported.
Berri is a town in the Riverland region of the state, close to the Victorian border.
Warland’s identity had initially been suppressed but the suppression order has lapsed.
The ex-cop did not answer questions as he left court and covered his face with a mask, sunglasses and hat.
Warland will be sentenced for his crime at the Adelaide District Court on March 22.