Police are looking for a man charged with several sexual offences, who they say is likely to re-offend after breaching the conditions of his release.
York Regional police issued an arrest warrant for 20-year-old Shubham Sahota for fleeing the residence of his surety in Vaughan, Ont., where he was supposed to reside while awaiting trial.
According to a bulletin released by police, Sahota faces multiple sex-related charges after allegedly luring and committing sex acts with a 12-year-old victim in April.
Sahota was charged with “several sexual offences,” including interference, luring a child, invitation to sexual touching and arrangement of a sexual offence against a child, and making sexually explicit material available to a child in June 2024.
“On July 28, 2024, investigators became aware that Sahota had not been seen since July 20, and they have not been able to locate him,” the police report said. “They are concerned he may re-offend.”
The report said the 20-year-old impersonated a 16-year-old and began communicating with the 12-year-old victim through social media.
“On May 7, 2024, the suspect sent a rideshare to pick up the victim and bring them to his house, where they engaged in a sexual act,” said police.
YRP emailed True North to say that they would not provide further information about the case or the man “in order to protect the victim’s identity” and would not comment on the man’s release as the courts determined his conditions.
In earlier reports, police said they were concerned that there were more victims and that anyone with information about the suspect or his whereabouts should call the police.
Frank Caputo, the Conservative Public Safety critic, says Trudeau’s easy-to-access bail program is to blame for dangerous child predators such as Sahota is alleged to be being released to potentially harm more children.
“It comes as no surprise that under Trudeau, a dangerous child predator has been released back onto our streets and has suddenly disappeared,” Caputo told True North. “Justin Trudeau’s disastrous soft-on-crime policies and easy bail have unleashed a crime wave across Canada. He has allowed easy bail for repeat violent offenders and put the rights of dangerous criminals ahead of our communities.”
He noted that sexual assaults have “exploded” by 75% under the Liberal government’s watch, and child sexual exploitation increased by 52% in 2023.
“It wasn’t like this before Trudeau, but his wacko policies like Bill C-5 and C-75 have given dangerous violent offenders access to easy bail, eliminated mandatory jail time for violent crimes, and allowed dangerous, violent offenders to be released back into our communities to serve their sentences at home.”
The office of the Prime Minister did not respond to True North’s request for comment.