Former Australian Swim Coach Charged For Involvement In “Satanic Child Abuse Material” Ring

A former swim coach in Australia was one of four men charged with criminal offenses related to their involvement in the distribution of child sexual abuse material linked to a satanic international child sex abuse ring, New South Wales police said Monday.

Mark Sendecky, who previously worked as a volunteer coach and marketing director with Masters Swimming Victoria and was also a volunteer coach with the Glamourhead Sharks Swim Club in Melbourne, was one of the four men charged on Monday after police executed multiple warrants around Sydney last Thursday.

After an investigation by Strike Force Constantine, a New South Wales task force established by the State Crime Command’s Child Exploitation Internet Unit to investigate the online distribution of child sexual abuse involving ritualistic or satanic themes, police uncovered a Sydney-based alleged pedophile network possessing, distributing and facilitating child abuse material involving “symbols and rituals related to satanism and the occult”.

“There’s no run-of-the mill child abuse, it’s all abhorrent child abuse,” Det. Supt. Jayne Doherty said, according to 9News.

“But these ones were particularly devastating in that they use symbols and rituals around … their discussions that they were having about abusing children. It had a very ritualistic overview.

“Police will allege in court that this international group were engaging in conversations and the sharing of material which depicted child abuse and the torture of children involving symbols and rituals linked to Satanism and the occult,” Doherty said.

“Police will allege in court that the initial examination of these devices has discovered thousands of videos depicting the abuse of live children between the ages of babies and 12 years of age,” she continued.

“Amongst these deplorable images were also a number of videos depicting the sexual abuse of animals.”

Police had not identified any victims as of Monday. They are also not alleging that the four men recorded the abuse material they shared.

“We’ve not identified an actual child, but the images are of real children,” she said.

In addition to Sendecky, Landon Germanotta-Mills, an independent journalist in Australia, was arrested, and police allege played a leading role in the ring.

Germanotta-Mills is the founder of Underground Media Network, which describes itself as an independent investigative journalism platform and on its website says it investigates issues related to “child protection… [and] public interest harm,” according to 9News.

Also arrested were Stuart Woods Riches, 39, and Benjamin Raymond Drysdale, 46.

Sendecky, 42, was charged with possessing child abuse data using a carriage service, accessing child abuse material, and possessing child abuse material.

All four were refused bail and will next appear in court in late January.

In 2021, Sendecky pleaded guilty to possessing and controlling child abuse material and faced up to 15 years in prison. When he was first arrested in early 2021, Masters Swimming Victoria said Sendecky never worked with anyone 18 & under while with the organization and had resigned from his positions in 2018.

In November 2021, he was sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison. Sendecky has also received child porn convictions in 2006 and 2012, according to The Daily Mail.