On Nov. 8, 2005, police charged a Centreville man with soliciting a minor for sexual purposes. Exactly one year later to the day, he pleaded guilty.
Vikram Jeet Singh Bajwa, now 21, of 5905 Spruce Run Court in Little Rocky Run, was among 10 people arrested following an online, sexual-predator sting conducted by the Northern Virginia-D.C. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.
HIS ARREST came after an 18-day, online investigative operation orchestrated by 17 specially trained investigators from the Alexandria, Arlington, D.C.-Metropolitan, Fairfax County, George Mason University, Manassas Park and Prince William County police departments.
Virginia State Police and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also participated. Investigators assumed the online profile of a pre-adolescent teen-ager and visited common teen chat rooms.
The task force's ongoing goal is to tackle the proliferation of child exploitation, pornography and predators via the Internet. Carried out at ICE Cyber Center Headquarters in Fairfax County, the sting operation ran Oct. 31-Nov. 10, 2005.
On Nov. 7 of that year, ICAC task force member Christopher J. McClure, a state police special agent, explained the case against Bajwa in an affidavit for a search warrant to seize and examine his computer.
He wrote about a Prince William County detective, also on the task force, who encountered Bajwa through Yahoo Chat. Using a screen name, the detective posed as a 14-year-old girl living in Woodbridge. McClure stated that, on Oct. 28, around 11:30 a.m., he saw the detective chatting online with someone with the screen name of juzblaze703.
"The subject proposed sexual acts, believing that he was in conversation with a 14-year-old girl," wrote McClure. He also alleged that Bajwa asked the "girl" if she would engage in oral sex with him.
"DURING THE CHAT, I observed juzblaze703 send an invite to view his web cam," wrote McClure. He noted that he watched the detective open the cam and then they both saw Bajwa masturbate on that web cam. Through Yahoo and Cox Communications, authorities uncovered the subscriber information for juzblaze703 and determined it was Bajwa they were after.
On Nov. 8, 2005, McClure executed the search warrant at Bajwa's home, confiscating a Dell Dimension computer tower, a Kodak Easy Share camera with memory card, a USB adapter for a Web cam, a wireless router and a cable modem. Bajwa was charged that same day with using a communications system to facilitate certain offenses involving children.
The grand jury indicted him on Sept. 18 of this year, and he pleaded guilty Nov. 8 in Fairfax County Circuit Court. Judge Gaylord Finch then set Bajwa's sentencing for Jan. 26.