Disgraced former swim coach Mark Andrew Sendecky has pleaded guilty to downloading child abuse material within weeks of being released on parole in Sydney.
Sendecky, 42, was living at the Nunyara Community Offender Support Program Centre in Malabar when police searched him on November 27 last year and found 33 videos on his mobile phone.
The videos depicted the sexual abuse and degradation of children, according to an agreed statement of facts put before the Downing Centre Local Court.
Sendecky admitted one charge of possessing child abuse material obtained using a carriage service. He is back in custody and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
Former swim coach reoffended after parole release
He had been released on parole in September 2025 after serving more than four years for possessing about 1,200 photographs and video clips of children being abused in a Dropbox folder.
At the earlier sentencing hearing, a psychologist’s findings submitted to the court stated that Sendecky had “no great insight into the harm perpetrated to individuals and to the community”.
He had told the court he intended to complete rehabilitation programmes in prison to reduce the risk of reoffending. However, police said he began downloading the new material within a month of his release.
The agreed facts state that Sendecky used the social media application X, formerly known as Twitter, to download the videos.
Sendecky was previously the coaching and marketing director at Masters Swimming Victoria between 2014 and 2018. He had also competed at national swimming championships, won multiple races and coached in Sydney and Victoria.
He was among several men arrested during a police operation investigating an alleged Sydney-based network accused of distributing satanic child sexual abuse material. Other accused men, including alleged leader Landon Ashton Versace Germanotta-Mills, have not yet been required to enter pleas.
Germanotta-Mills faces charges including possessing and making child abuse material available via a carriage service, as well as disseminating and possessing bestiality material. Benjamin Drysdale, Stuart Riches and former police officer David Turner have also been charged with similar offences relating to child abuse material.
Sendecky will appear in the District Court on November 30, when sentencing proceedings are due to begin.
