An outraged local councillor’s wife defended her husband following shocking news that he texted a teenage girl about her Instagram bikini photos.
In a social media post, Angela Carbone referred to her husband Julian Carbone, a former Burnside councillor, as a “gentleman” who had recently experienced “great cruelty.”
On Friday, Ms. Carbone posted on Facebook to describe him as a “passionate, ardent, and hardworking” council member in Adelaide who was also “kind, kind, and hilarious.”
‘In your final days as a Burnside Councillor you were subjected to such incredible nastiness, which seemed relentless,’ her emotional post read.
‘However during this time you have also received a tremendous amount of calls and messages of support from all areas of your life and additionally from members of the Burnside community.
‘The past week has proved just how much support you do have and how much your work was appreciated and will be missed.’
The former councillor resigned after he was caught out messaging a girl, 17, about her bikini photos on Instagram.
Mr Carbone’s ordeal began last Tuesday after an official council report revealed he sent a message to the young girl at 5am on Saturday, November 27.
The message read: ‘Lots of bikini photos – but it’s so damn cold at the moment hey.’
Carbone, 41, initially denied sending the message, then he said he couldn’t remember sending it, before suggesting his phone was hacked.
He eventually stated he was simply trying to strike up conversation about the weather.
Further investigation revealed Carbone followed at least six profiles on Instagram run by people claiming to be teenage girls.
It was also revealed he has another work profile and a TikTok account where he follows scantily-clad women.
In an explosive post to his followers later on Tuesday, the father-of-one declared he shut his Instagram account down because it was ‘riddled with accounts that I had nothing to do with’.
However, Daily Mail Australia can reveal Mr Carbone had a second professional Instagram account that he used while working in property development – and followed a number of women who regularly post lingerie and activewear selfies.
The father-of-one also had a TikTok account with the handle @votejulian where he described himself as an elected member of the Burnside City Council. It followed 55 accounts – many of which were people claiming to be teenagers.
Another account he followed was called whosyourmumma75 and had videos of a woman dancing in lingerie.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday evening, referring to his Burnside Council Instagram account, Mr Carbone wrote: ‘As my Instagram page has become overrun and riddled with FAKE PROFILES, all of which I had nothing to do with, I’ve made the conscious decision to remove my account.’
‘I am very passionate about increasing resident engagement so I will continue to liaise with you via my normal Council Facebook page.’
Despite Mr Carbone’s assertation that his account was inundated with ‘fake’ profiles, all the racy accounts listed on all three social media profiles were found in the ‘following’ section of his pages.
Burnside Council members voted unanimously on Tuesday that he had to resign amid the furore – acknowledging they couldn’t force him to.
On Wednesday morning, the father-of-one announced he had no intention of stepping down and intended to run in the next local government election.
Mr Carbone then resigned on Thursday, posting to social media responding to the accusations.
‘None of this was intentional, on purpose or with any unwholesome or unsavoury motivations,’ the post read.
‘All of this has been one big unintentional mistake, a lack of due diligence and just simply, naivety. For all of this, I am humbly sorry.’