Former Gold Coast LNP member Timothy Gear, aged 23, has been convicted of child sex offences and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment which has been fully suspended for 18 months.
Gear, former Elanora State High School captain, was convicted of two counts of trying to procure a child under the age of sixteen, after having plead guilty to posing as an adolescent online.
As Gear was a former captain of Elanora State High School, and lead a successful career as an LNP campaigner for MP Jann Stuckey, the former Minister for Tourism and Small Businesses, he was welcomed back to Elanora SHS to be a mentor for the school’s Leadership and Business Week in 2011.
Gear was to lead and work closely with a group of underage students throughout the week, as they learned the skills necessary for later life.
Group CEO Meaghan Parsonson, then 15, has revealed that she gave her phone number to Gear in an effort to keep in contact with him throughout the week.
“I texted him a few times about ideas for the trade show and he was quick to reply but on a few occasions the conversation would trail off into him asking more personal questions about myself and a few other people in the group and it felt weird that he was asking about me when we were supposed to be talking about the group”, said Parsonson of Gear.
Parsonson also stated that Gear seemed uncomfortable around them, and that he was also “a bit socially challenged”.
When asked about his conviction, Parsonson was not shocked.
Elanora SHS or Principal Cameron Hodges was not able to comment regarding the conviction of Gear and whether the school will make an effort to scrutinize potential mentors of the students in the future.