Tokoroa man sent to prison for distributing ‘illegal and harmful’ content

River Foster was caught re-offending while already under investigation by Internal Affairs. Photo / Google Maps

By RNZ

A Tokoroa man has been sentenced to nearly five years imprisonment for possession and distribution of objectionable material, including bestiality-related abuse and content involving infants.

River Nathanile Foster, 30, appeared for sentencing in Tokoroa District Court on Friday, after pleading to 15 representative charges for his distribution of more than 8000 objectionable images and videos.

His imprisonment follows an investigation by the Department of Internal Affairs’ digital child exploitation team.

Among the material were files depicting severe child exploitation, including the sexual abuse and exploitation of young children and animals.

Investigators also found objectionable computer-generated imagery in Foster’s possession.

The department said computer-generated content was becoming increasingly common among offenders.

“Computer-generated objectionable content is not a loophole, it is illegal and harmful.

“Distributing it to others, as happened here, fuels an ecosystem of exploitation and is deeply concerning,” Tim Houston, manager of the digital child exploitation team, said.

The department said an investigation into Foster was launched after it received referrals from the United States-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, which indicated that he had uploaded child sex abuse files onto an online platform.

It said Foster was also detected re-offending while already under investigation by the digital child exploitation team.

“This prosecution reflects the two enforcement actions taken in response to his continued offending.”

As part of Foster’s sentence, he will be registered as a child sex offender and all devices used during the offending will be destroyed.

Internal Affairs said that in 2024, its team conducted 69 investigations into child exploitation and helped to safeguard 14 New Zealand children from harm, while the digital child exploitation filtering system blocked over one million attempts to access websites hosting child sexual abuse material.

-RNZ