Former NSW Labor minister and convicted sex offender, Milton Orkopoulos, will face court today after being charged with 15 new child sex abuse offences.
Police allege Orkopoulos sexually and indecently assaulted two juvenile boys known to him on separate occasions in the 1990s at locations in Lake Macquarie and on the NSW mid-north coast.
The 62-year-old has been charged with 15 offences including aggravated indecent assault with person under 16 years of age, committing an act of indecency with person under 16 years, aggravated sexual assault and three counts of causing a child aged under 14 to participate in child prostitution.
Lake Macquarie Police District commander, Superintendent Danny Sullivan, said it takes tremendous courage for victims of sexual crimes to come forward to police.
“As you would expect, coming forward in relation to being a victim of a sexual offence is a very traumatic experience,” said Superintendent Sullivan. “We are very thankful for the courage shown.”
He also said he could not elaborate on the charges of causing a child to participate in child prostitution.
“They’re very difficult matters and they arise directly from the investigation, and they’ll be put before the court as that person has now been charged.”
Orkopoulos was refused bail to appear at Newcastle Local Court via audio-visual link on Tuesday.
The convicted paedophile spent 11-and-a-half years in jail after he was convicted of 30 child sex, drug and child porn offences.
He was granted parole in December 2019, but was then re-arrested in January for allegedly setting up an Instagram account and not telling police within the required seven days.
He had his parole revoked in February after Corrective Services NSW officers told police he used the mobile phone of a fellow resident at the Malabar halfway house where he lives.
Orkopoulos served in Parliament from 1999 to 2006 and was a Lake Macquarie councillor for four years.
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Orkopoulos has been refused bail after appeared briefly in Newcastle Local Court today via audio-visual link from Sydney’s Long Bay prison.
Magistrate John Chicken adjourned the case to August 20 when the police brief of evidence against Orkopoulos was expected to be complete.
Mr Chicken ordered authorities to assess Orkopoulos for mental health issues.
