Mahal worked in British Columbia, Canada.
AB wire
WASHINGTON, DC: Kelly Singh Mahal, a 47-year-old Surrey, British Columbia (Canada), soccer coach was arrested in the United States earlier this month, after allegedly trying to meet a 12-year-old girl for sex.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says Kuldip (Kelly) Singh Mahal crossed the border in Blaine, Washington and travelled to a park in Burlington, Washington, where he had arranged to meet the girl, reported CBC News.
Court documents say Mahal, a facilities manager for a Vancouver tech firm, is also a volunteer coach for an under-16 boys’ soccer team in Surrey.
In documents filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, the agency alleges Mahal answered a posting on Craigslist from an undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old girl from northwest Washington.
Mahal is charged in the U.S. with the “attempted enticement of a minor” — an offence that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years to life.
Court documents allege Mahal sent multiple sexually explicit messages and photos of himself to the undercover special agent over a three-week period, even after being told he was communicating with a 12-year-old girl.
Investigators also state in the complaint that Mahal, in lengthy sexualized chats, repeatedly requested explicit pictures from the “girl.”
According to court documents, reported CBX News, an ad was placed in the “casual encounters” section of the Vancouver personals entitled “Crazy and very young.”
The text of the ad read, “I’m a bit young and I want to learn some new things. I have never experienced the things I want to, I am real and live in Burlington, Wash. I like to go to outlet stores at Tulalip!!”
The document alleges the ad was answered by a person using an anonymous Craigslist email identifying himself as “Jumbo Smith,” who, investigators allege, they later identified as Mahal.
Immigration authorities say 2,300 people were arrested last year alone by special agents under the initiative, and since its inception in 2003, more than 10,000 individuals have been arrested for crimes against children.