A Centreville man accused of soliciting a minor for sexual purposes received a suspended prison sentence last week in Fairfax County Circuit Court. He is Vikram Jeet Singh Bajwa, 21, of 5905 Spruce Run Court in Little Rocky Run.
HE WAS one of 10 people arrested as a result of an online, sexual-predator sting conducted by the Northern Virginia-D.C. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.
He was charged after an extensive, 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 mission 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 that nabbed Bajwa ran Oct. 31-Nov. 10, 2005.
On Nov. 7 of that year, ICAC task force member Christopher J. McClure, a state police special agent, detailed the case against Bajwa in an affidavit for warrant to search his computer.
He explained that a Prince William County detective on the task force encountered Bajwa via 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 observed 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 watched the detective open the cam and then they both saw Bajwa masturbate on that web cam. Through Yahoo and Cox Communications, juzblaze703 was identified as Bajwa.
On Nov. 8, 2005, McClure executed the search warrant at Bajwa's home and confiscated items including a computer tower and a camera with memory card. That same day, Bajwa was charged with using a communications system to facilitate certain offenses involving children.
The grand jury indicted him Sept. 18, 2006, and he pleaded guilty Nov. 8 in Circuit Court. He returned for sentencing last Friday, Jan. 26, and Judge Gaylord Finch gave him three years in prison and suspended all that time.
Bajwa is now officially a convicted felon and must register as a sex offender. And if he commits any further violations of law, some or all of the time suspended may be reinstated.