Former NSW Labor minister Milton Orkopoulos has been found guilty of sexually abusing teenage boys while he was a state MP.
A jury found the 65-year-old guilty of 26 out of 28 charges of sexual offences against four underage boys he allegedly supplied drugs to over a decade, ending in 2003.
The jury went into deliberation on Tuesday and delivered its verdict on Wednesday afternoon.
Orkopoulos was found not guilty on one count of supplying prohibited drugs and one count of doing an act to pervert the course of justice.
The court previously heard Orkopoulos used the same pattern of behaviour with his alleged victims, including first initiating the grooming by asking whether they had smoked cannabis and apologising later on when the sexual activity got too rough or painful.
Orkopoulos was motivated by his sexual desire for young boys and acted on those desires opportunistically, the prosecutor said.
He then would become more brazen after finding out his victims’ silence was guaranteed and moved onto harder drugs like heroin to groom the boys.
The 65-year-old has also previously pleaded guilty to possessing child abuse material in 2006 and to supplying a year 12 boy with drugs in Parliament House.
He will be sentenced at a later date.
– AAP
