Photo: Vancouver Police
The Vancouver Police are encouraging women to come forward who may have been victims of a crime.
In July, police arrested a man after they received a number of reports of a suspect exposing himself to young women throughout the city. In total, investigators believe that the same man may have exposed himself to over 60 victims.
VPD began receiving reports between July 6th and 18th of a man driving a pick-up truck and approach teenaged girls and young women who were walking along sidewalks.He would then pull up beside them and attempt to engage them in conversation.
Afterward, he would draw their attention to the inside of the vehicle where he was masturbating. After seeing their reaction, the suspect would drive away.
There VPD have not had any indication that he tried to touch these women.
On July 18th, VPD received a 9-1-1 call about a similar incident near MacDonald Street and West 17th Avenue. Officers were then able to locate and arrest the suspect who has been identified as 28-year-old Trevor John Kurjata.
What's more, his seized cellphone revealed approximately 30 additional video-recorded incidents throughout Vancouver. In them, there is evidence of more than 60 unidentified teens and young women who were tricked into seeing him masturbate.
“Officers have continued their investigation after the initial arrest and determined the suspect had set up a cell phone to record his interactions with these unsuspecting young people,” says Constable Jason Doucette, VPD.
“Based on the videos recovered from his phone, we are confident there are many other victims who have not yet spoken with police and we are asking them to come forward.”
Kurjata is charged with five counts of committing an indecent act in a public place and one count of exposing genitals to a person under 16 years.
He was released from custody, however, he must follow strict court-imposed conditions.
Anyone with information about these incidents is asked to call the VPD sex crimes investigators at 604-717-0604 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
