Calvin Gorsuch has been denied bail. (ABC Illawarra: Penny Burfitt)
In short:
The owner of an Illawarra homewares store has been denied bail after allegedly being caught with more than 2,500 child abuse material files on his electronic devices.
The Woonona home of Calvin Gabriel Gorsuch was raided by police on Tuesday.
What's next?
He will remain behind bars, with the matter returning to court in December.
The owner of an Illawarra homewares store has been refused bail amid allegations that he stored thousands of child abuse images and videos on cloud-based accounts and sent them on the encrypted messaging app Telegram.
Calvin Gabriel Gorsuch, 27, faced an online bail court hearing yesterday after his Woonona home was raided on Tuesday.
Police allege the search unearthed more than 2,500 files on his electronic devices depicting "violent" material involving young boys.
The court heard Mr Gorsuch was charged with two counts of using a carriage service to make available child abuse material and one count of possession.
Mr Gorsuch is the owner of Ohana Home in Thirroul, north of Wollongong, which sells party items, homewares and popular toys.
During his bail application, his defence lawyer Zali Kelly told the court family members would be able to take the reins of the business.
Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions solicitor Kate Gauld opposed Mr Gorsuch's release application.
She told the court the case against him was strong and that he allegedly made admissions to owning the accounts and using Telegram to send and receive 25 images and videos.
"Police are aware he has several password-protected accounts, and they are yet to be reviewed by investigators," Ms Gauld said.
"There is risk about whether that could be destroyed through access to the internet."
'Extremely serious'
Ms Gauld argued the matters were "very, very serious" as they depicted violence against "very young children", with some videos more than five minutes long.
Ms Kelly proposed a series of bail conditions, including not having access to encrypted devices or the internet, agreeing to rehabilitate, and supervision by authorities and his family.
She told the court her client had no prior criminal history, that it was his first time in custody, and that he had "very strong community ties".
"The frankness in which Mr Gorsuch spoke to police demonstrates a desire to rehabilitate, which is best done in the community," Ms Kelly said.
The prosecution argued that having files stored on a cloud-based account would be difficult to supervise as they could be accessed from any location from any internet-ready device.
Local Court Judge Te'res Sia agreed, describing the allegations as "extremely serious" and the threshold to a potential prison sentence "well and truly crossed".
She said authorities would not be able to supervise Mr Gorsuch around the clock if he were granted bail, and refused the application.
Mr Gorsuch is yet to enter formal pleas, with the matter returning to court on December 16.