A 75-year-old former hardware store owner named Alan Harry Treseder has pled guilty to soliciting images to obtain child abuse material.

Mr Treseder, of Narromine, appeared via audiovisual link at Dubbo District Court last week and he learned he will be sentenced on May 3.

The 75-year-old has admitted to using a carriage service to solicit images obtaining child abuse material as well as one count of failing to comply with reporting obligations from a previous court matter.

Court papers showed Mr Treseder started up a conversation on a gay-friendly chat line with someone he believed was a 12-year-old boy in February 2023.

Mr Treseder then sent images of his groin area with and without underwear, asked the boy to send images back, then told him to delete the images to protect himself.

However, what Mr Treseder didn’t know was the teenage boy he was speaking to was actually a 60-year-old man from Queensland.

The 75-year-old told police he was “horny” and “aroused” after receiving and re-reading the messages.

“He understood he was talking to a young guy, and they were under 18,” according to court documents.

The former hardware store owner remains in custody and has made no bail application made to the court.