Mark Kevin Swain: Former Geraldton cop fined for supplying alcohol to minors he met on sugar daddy app

A former Geraldton police officer has been fined $2000 for supplying two 14-year-old girls with alcohol after meeting them on a sugar daddy dating app. Mark Kevin Swain, 50, appeared in Geraldton Magistrates Court on Monday for sentencing after he was found not guilty of more serious charges by a District Court jury in August of asking a 14-year-old girl for sex and indecently dealing with her. On Monday, the court heard Swain met a 14-year-old girl on the dating app Sugar Daddy Meets in August 2022 and invited her to his Wandina home believing she was 19. The girl and her 14-year-old friend went to Swain’s home, where he supplied each of the girls with one Vodka Cruiser each. State prosecutor Clinton Arnold said Swain “must have reasonably known” the girls were underage after inviting them inside and by failing to report the incident because it was “professionally embarrassing”, he ultimately placed his own reputation above the law. Defence lawyer David McKenzie said Swain gave the 14-year-old girls alcohol to get them to leave his house after realising they were underage. “To allow them to have the alcohol and take it, one can each of a mixer drink, was just the best way to get them out of the house,” he said. Mr McKenzie put forward an application for a spent conviction, stating Swain was of prior good character, lived a pro-social life and while he was currently self-employed repairing windsurfing equipment, he intended to find other work outside of WA Police. Magistrate Kelly Thompson accepted Swain was not “grooming” the girls and purchased the alcohol only with the intention of meeting young adult women. The spent conviction was granted and Swain was fined $2000 and $386 in costs.