The man responsible for running a medium-security prison that has housed sex offenders has been charged with child porn offences.
Wayne Harper, the general manager of Marngoneet Correctional Centre in Lara, near Geelong, has been charged by the Geelong Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team.
Wayne Harper was general manager of Marngoneet Correctional Centre. Credit: Craig Abraham
“A 57-year-old Leopold man was charged with knowingly possessing child abuse material and knowingly possessing child pornography,” a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.
“The man was bailed to appear at Geelong Magistrates’ Court on 13 November. The investigation remains ongoing.”
Mr Harper was responsible for overseeing the 559-bed Marngoneet jail and the 300-bed Karreenga that houses inmates who need to be separated from the rest of the prison population.
He has been at Marngoneet Correctional Centre since 2006 when he started as a casual prison officer before rising through the ranks. He has also been a general manager at Loddon and the maximum-security prison at Barwon.
A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokeswoman said the “prison officer” was no longer employed, and that they would not be commenting further as there was an ongoing police investigation.
“The Department of Justice and Community Safety can confirm that a Corrections Victoria prison officer is being investigated by Victoria Police,” she said.
“The integrity of Victoria’s corrections system is of the highest priority and all staff are required to uphold the utmost levels of professionalism and ethics. The department takes a zero-tolerance approach to breaches of our code of conduct.”