Melbourne childcare paedophile Joshua Dale Brown has now been charged with 156 offences. Photo: 123.rf
Warning: This story contains details of alleged child sex offences which may distress some audience members.
Detectives have issued more than 80 additional charges against alleged Melbourne childcare paedophile Joshua Dale Brown.
Health officials say no children will require further testing as a result of the new charges and no new childcare centres have been identified as being of concern.
However, police say the new charges relate to an additional four alleged victims identified as part of their investigation into the 27-year-old, who was charged with 70 offences earlier in the year.
They say some of the new charges also relate to the initial eight alleged victims identified earlier this year.
The families of the four newly identified alleged victims have been notified.
Mr Brown was this morning charged with 83 additional offences including six counts of penetrating a child under 12, eight counts of producing child abuse material and 23 counts of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material.
Other charges include:
[L1]Two counts of sexual activity in the presence of a child
[L2]Eight counts of sexual assault of a child under 16
[L3]Two counts of attempted sexual penetration of a child under 12
[L4]Two counts of common law assault
[L5]Twelve counts of bestiality
[L6]Reckless conduct endangering serious injury
[L7]Encouraging a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity
[L8]Two counts of possessing a drug of dependence
[L9]Victoria Police said the bestiality offences are part of a separate investigation unrelated to any childcare centres.
The additional four alleged victims identified by police were placed at Nino Early Learning Adventures in Point Cook in March 2019, Only About Children at Williamstown in December 2020 and February 2021 and Aussie Kindies Early Learning Centre in Keilor in February 2025.
Accused now facing 156 charges
About 2,000 children were asked to undergo health screening after it was revealed that Mr Brown had been arrested in July.
The former childcare worker had been charged with more than 70 offences in relation to alleged offending against eight young children at Creative Garden Early Learning Centre between April 2022 and January 2023.
In July, health authorities said they had taken a "cautious" approach in recommending 1,200 children linked to the case be tested for potential infectious diseases.
Police at the time said Mr Brown had worked at 20 childcare centres between January 2017 and May 2025.
The government announced a series of reforms to the troubled childcare sector the day after the charges were revealed, including creating a register of childcare workers.
It also launched a rapid review which later found childcare watchdogs were failing to keep children safe due to poor information sharing, legal constraint and underfunding.
Regulatory changes have also strengthened the Working with Children Check (WWCC) scheme and made it easier for checks to be revoked or suspended.
In total, Brown has now been charged with 156 offences.
He is due to face court in February next year.
-ABC
Where to get help:
Sexual Violence
- NZ Police.
- Victim Support 0800 842 846.
- Rape Crisis: 0800 88 33 00.
- Rape Prevention Education.
- Empowerment Trust.
- HELP (Auckland): 09 623 1700, (Wellington): 04 801 6655.
- Safe to talk: 0800 044 334.
- Tautoko Tāne Male Survivors Aotearoa.
- Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) 022 344 0496.
Family Violence
- Women's Refuge: 0800 733 843.
- It's Not OK 0800 456 450.
- Shine: 0508 744 633.
- Victim Support: 0800 842 846.
- HELP Call 24/7 (Auckland): 09 623 1700, (Wellington): 04 801 6655.
- The National Network of Family Violence Services NZ has information on specialist family violence agencies.
