Vietnamese student Bao Phuc Cao, 24, has been added to the sex offender registry after a court reversed an earlier decision that had allowed him to avoid conviction. The biomedicine student had pleaded guilty to secretly filming a woman in a public bathroom in February 2025, with police later discovering over 100 similar videos on his devices.
Cao's case gained international attention when billionaire Elon Musk responded to a social media post by activist Drew Pavlou, who criticized the initial sentencing. Musk publicly stated, "Deport the judge."
On Monday, Cao's defense argued against his inclusion on the sex offender registry, citing it as a lifelong consequence. However, Magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz ruled that Cao posed a risk to the "sexual safety" of women in Melbourne. Cao will now be monitored by police for eight years and is subject to strict reporting conditions. He is also banned from working with children and faces significant barriers to working in high-risk industries, including medicine, as his criminal history would be inconsistent with professional registration in Australia.
In a court-presented interview, Cao admitted that filming women "makes me feel excited." The court previously heard that his actions had a significant impact on one victim, who now experiences anxiety when using public restrooms.
The March sentencing, which initially resulted in a community corrections order and good behavior bonds without a criminal record, was the third time Cao had faced allegations of similar behavior without jail time. He was previously caught filming in a public bathroom in October 2024 and received a community corrections order. In July 2025, he received lenient treatment without a recorded conviction for an offense in student showers.