VPD bust man for internet child luring
A 36-year-old Burnaby man who thought he was chatting online with a 13-year-old girl has been arrested and charged with child luring, Vancouver police said Wednesday.
The young girl he thought he was communicating with was, in fact, a Vice Unit investigator with the Vancouver Police Department, the VPD said.
The investigation began in June as part of Predator Watch, a program in which investigators prowl the internet looking for predators, Sgt. Tony Cavezza of the VPD said in a press release.
The man began an online relationship with a person he thought was a 13-year-old girl and shortly after he moved the subject of their chats to sexuality, Cavezza said. He would send links of pornographic websites encouraging the young girl to view, he said, adding that the man also began to commit sexual acts on a webcam for her to watch.
Investigators learned the man was living in Burnaby, and Burnaby RCMP arrested Ram Reddy Yalaka July 23. He is a citizen of India, in Canada on a work visa, and is married with one child, police said.
The Ministry of Child and Family Development have been notified.
Yalaka is charged with the Criminal Code of Canada offence of communicating via computer to lure a child under 14.
Yalaka has been released on bail with several conditions and is next scheduled to appear in court Aug. 6.
Detective Kate Caprarie of the VPD Vice Unit said parents need to take an active role in what their children are doing on the internet.
"Do your due diligence and visit the chat room your children may be frequenting. Find out what's going on," she said in the release.
