From TV stardom to prison cell: Australia’s Got Talent star is arrested over alleged sexual abuse of teenage girl
- Australia’s Got Talent beatbox star arrested over alleged sexual abuse of teen
- Genesis Cerezo was arrested at home in Hurstville in Sydney’s south on Tuesday
- Police will allege abuse took place during photo shoots between 2018 and 2020
- The 29-year-old was charged with 31 offences and will front court on Thursday
- Performer rose to fame after an appearance on the hit show over a decade ago
A champion beatboxer who starred on Australia’s Got Talent a decade ago has been arrested after allegedly sexually abusing a teenage girl.
Genesis Cerezo, 29, was arrested at his home in Hurstville in Sydney’s south by officers from the NSW Police Child Abuse and Sex Crime Squad on Tuesday.
The TV star has been charged with 31 offences, some of which police will allege were committed during amateur photo shoots with the teenage girl.
Genesis Cerezo, 29, (pictured) was arrested at his home in Hurstville in Sydney’s south by officers from the NSW Police Child Abuse and Sex Crime Squad on Tuesday
The charges include indecent assault of a person aged under 16, using a child over 14 to make child abuse material and sexually touching a person without consent.
Cerezo has also been charged with aggravated sexual assault and sexual intercourse without consent which could see the beatboxer jailed for 12 years.
Shortly after his arrest officers searched the Hurstville home and seized mobile phones, computers, hard drives, clothing and photography equipment.
Officers also seized a gel-blaster pistol, an extendible baton, a small Samurai-style sword and an ‘unknown crystal-like substance’, police said on Thursday.
Police will allege the ‘amateur photographer’ sexually abused the teenager on multiple occasions during photoshoots held across Sydney.
The alleged abuse is believed to have taken place between January 2018 and February 2020 when the girl was between 13 and 16 years old.
Cerezo appeared before the Sutherland Local Court without a lawyer on Tuesday and did not apply for release on bail.
He is due to return to the same court on Thursday in what will be his last chance to avoid being behind bars over Christmas.
The beatboxer appeared on hit show Australia’s Got Talent in 2012 and won the favour of the judges – including Kyle Sandilands – with his beatboxing act.
A YouTube video of Cerezo’s first audition on the show has over 18million views, however the performer was axed from the show after making it to the top eight.
The photographer regularly posts photos of himself posing in designer clothes and shares videos of his beatbox skills to his Instagram page.
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