Justin Bieber impersonator charged with over 200 child abuse offences is released back into the community

Published: 06:53, 13 May 2026 | Updated: 06:53, 13 May 2026 A Brisbane teacher who allegedly posed as Justin Bieber to con young children into sending him explicit images has been released into the community pending trial. Gordon Douglas Chalmers, 50, is accused of using multiple social media platforms, including Facebook and Skype, to impersonate the pop star and convince fans to send him naked photos. He is alleged to have interacted with 157 children across the globe.  Chalmers, who taught Indigenous law and philosophy at the Queensland University of Technology, is facing over 200 child abuse offences with his alleged offending dating back to at least 2007.  The charges include possession of and making child exploitation material, and using a carriage service for child pornography.  He has been in custody since his arrest in 2016, however, has not yet faced trial following multiple changes to his legal team. Now having spent nearly 10 years behind bars without a conviction, Chalmers was granted bail earlier this month after Judge Michael Burnett found that he risked spending too much time in jail. The six-week trial was originally listed to start on May 11, however, has now been pushed back to October. Gordon Chalmers has been released on bail while facing over 200 child abuse offences Chalmers is accused of impersonating Canadian pop star Justin Bieber to convince children into sending him explicit images It comes just months after Chalmers, who was self-represented, tried to postpone his trial. His attempt was denied by Judge Burnett who said he suspected a number of Chalmers' lawyers had been 'hired and fired'. At the time, Barrister Dylan Kerr for the Commonwealth DPP was adamant the trial proceed as listed, the Courier Mail reported. 'This matter has extensive history. Mr Chalmers had gone through at least five different lawyers. The Crown's position is that this trial must proceed in May whether Mr Chalmers is represented or not,' Mr Kerr said. Chalmers was first charged by police in 2016 with nearly 1,000 counts of grooming and procuring children under 16 and accessing child porn. His Kenmore home was raided by police after a tip off from German and United States authorities, with detectives allegedly finding a massive trove of child exploitation material on his computers, including more than 123,000 conversations over Skype. In 2020, the number of offences facing Chalmers was dropped to 202 charges. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.