Nursery ‘paedo', 26, who ‘gave child STD' prompted cops to advise 2,000 kids to get tested ‘after campaign of abuse'
Joshua Dale Brown, 26, has been charged with raping and abusing eight children aged from five months to two years old in a horror case that has rocked Australia.
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The child educator worked across 23 daycare centres in Victoria, sparking fears that he spread sexually transmitted diseases to the young children.
The parents of some 2,000 children have been urged by state authorities to test their kids for infections in the wake of his arrest.
Sources told Daily Mail Australia one child who attended one of the Melbourne daycare centres where Brown was employed has now tested positive for gonorrhoea.
While the Victorian government denied the claim, the Department of Health refused to reject the report.
A spokesman said: "Test results we've received to date as part of this investigation reaffirm that the risk is low."
Tests are ongoing after the mass panic sparked by Brown's arrest on July 1.
Cops did not reveal if Brown himself had tested positive for an STI but said the manner of the alleged abuse means children should get checked.
The alleged attacker worked at 23 centres over eight years from January 2017 to May 2025.
Police say he carried out the abuse on eight children between April 2022 and January 2023.
He is expected to be hit with further charges beyond the 73 he currently faces for sexually penetrating children, sexual activity in the presence of a child and contaminating food.
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He has also been charged with producing and transmitting child abuse material, and sexually touching a child under 16.
Brown appeared in court yesterday and will return in February after the magistrate approved a police request for an extension.
Horrified parents have questioned how Brown passed screening to work with children.
While he had a valid Working with Children Check, he was allegedly reported to state authorities two years ago for his behaviour, though it was unrelated to sexual misconduct.
In response, childcare operator G8 Education said they would accelerate the rollout of security cameras across 400 centres.
Brown was arrested after cops started investigating another man, Michael Simon Wilson, for the alleged rape of a teenage boy in a nearby area.
Detectives examining Wilson's devices found material linking him to Brown and the two men are known to each other, sources told ABC.
Wilson has been hit with 45 charges including rape, bestiality and possessing child abuse material.
The pair are yet to enter a plea and it is unclear how they know each other.
However they have appeared together in a photo shared online by Brown's partner.
Brown has employed top barrister Rishi Nathwani KC to his defence, who is trying to have his client's charge sheets withheld from the media.
But Magistrate Donna Bakos told him they are already a matter of public record.
Cops say the majority of Brown's offences took place at the Creative Gardens Early Learning Centre in Point Cook.
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