Vancouver police say 47 men — including a school teacher, school trustee and a firefighter — were arrested during a two-month operation targeting people allegedly willing to pay teenagers for sex acts last year.
On Thursday, Deputy Chief Const. Laurence Rankin said the operation began with detectives posting fake, decoy ads on web escort sites and social media platforms. Those who responded to the ads were told, by text, they were chatting with a girl between 15 and 17 years old.
Rankin said the “vast majority” of men backed off after that, but 47 wanted to meet up.
The officer said hotel meetings were set up once age, sex act and fee were established. The men were arrested after showing up, apparently expecting something sexual as arranged, but running into police officers instead.
Officers spoke with the suspects over text message, using web escort sites and social media. Vancouver police Deputy Chief Const. Laurence Rankin said the “vast majority” of men backed off after police posing as teenagers told them they were underage. (Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images)
Rankin said different men had different reactions when they realized what was happening.
“You had everything from people who would acquiesce and people who would fight,” Rankin said on Thursday. “Some attempted to provide an explanation … some told [officers] to go out and find criminals to arrest.”
Seven of the 47 men, including the school teacher and trustee, have been charged with obtaining for consideration the sexual services of a person under the age of 18. Police said they are working with the Crown to lay more charges.
Rankin said the men arrested come from “all walks of life,” but declined to provide names because some of the men haven’t gone before the courts.
The officer said there’s no evidence to indicate the men knew each other. At least one of them, he said, was a tourist. Another was “a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang.”
Concerning the teaching staff and firefighter accused, Rankin said their employers have been notified.
“I want to make it clear that these projects were not about sexual activity between two consenting adults,” Rankin said in the statement. “Police will continue to focus their attention on those willing to prey on and exploit young boys and girls.”
‘It wasn’t very difficult’
Rankin, who has 31 years of experience, said he was surprised at how easy it was to find targets.
“It wasn’t very difficult. What’s shocking … is we’re looking at potentially hundreds of chat streams that were occurring over the social media platforms with the police officers that were posting as teenage girls. They had to turn down people.”
The officer did say that not all men using the sites were interested in underage girls.
“The vast majority of the men that were seeking sex industry workers were looking for adult females, so the vast majority would turn down the offer. What’s disconcerting is the small group of men … who discovered the person they were communicating with was underage and were excited about that.”
Rankin stressed that no real teenagers were involved in the sting.
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