A 26-year-old man has been accused of using his position at several out-of-school-hours (OOSH) care services to prey on young children.

Artarmon resident David James allegedly took explicit photos of 10 victims between the ages of five and six years old while employed at six centres in Sydney’s northern suburbs and CBD between April 2021 and May 2024.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Childcare worker charged with abusing 10 children.

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The accused was also training with NSW Police during a period of his alleged offending.

Details of the alleged crimes and the AFP investigation were revealed on Thursday after a court-issued non-publication order was revoked.

“The non-publication order issued by the court was to allow our investigators the time to carefully work through all the available evidence to establish a full picture of the alleged offending,” AFP Acting Assistant Commissioner Brett James said.

“Victim identification is a painstaking and detailed process that can take months to carry out.

“It is crucial to make sure we identify all the victims and capture the evidence in a way that will stand up to the rigours of a criminal trial.”

Families of the alleged victims identified during the investigation have been contacted by authorities and offered support, the Acting Assistant Commissioner said.

“If you have not heard from the AFP, it is because we have no evidence which has linked your family to this man’s offending,” he said.

The accused is facing 13 charges, including nine counts of aggravated use of a child under 14 to make child abuse material.

If convicted, the crime carries a maximum penalty of 20 years behind bars.

“As soon as we found out that the man was a was a childcare worker, we obviously sprung into action very quickly,” the Acting Assistant Commissioner said.

‘We had to examine 142,000 files’

The AFP investigation began in June 2024 after child abuse material was detected on the dark web.

The accused’s home was raided and devices which the AFP alleges contained similar material were seized.

“From this point on, our victim identification process began in earnest as our investigators went through every image or video on his phones, his computers and his storage devices,” Acting Assistant Commissioner James said.

“In all, we had to examine 142,000 files on his devices, or 18.9 gigabytes.

“Not all those were child abuse material, but it shows the effort it took to thoroughly go through every single file.”

Further, authorities have released a list of the 58 care services where the accused was employed between March 2018 and September 2024, and launched a webpage with advice for parents and avenues to make reports.

“To be clear, comprehensive inquiries by police so far have found no evidence to suggest that any alleged offending took place at the remaining 52 centres,” Brett James said.

NSW Police also revealed on Thursday that the accused was once employed by the force as a probationary constable, including across a period when he is alleged to have targeted young children.

“He was employed as a probationary constable from December 2021 to September 2022 and, after failing to complete his probation, continued in a civilian capacity until his resignation in May 2023,” the force said.

“During his employment, the man failed to seek the required approval to engage in secondary employment, and as such, police were unaware of his concurrent role in the childcare sector.

“We acknowledge the seriousness of the allegations and condemn any behaviour that places our community’s most vulnerable members at risk.”

The accused remains behind bars and will return to court in August.