Surrey man tries to lure 13-year-old online, busted in police sting

A 48-year-old Surrey man was arrested after trying to lure a fictitious 13-year-old girl online that was part of a carefully crafted police sting operation.

George Torresani thought he was chatting online with a teen girl, but it was actually a member of the BC Integrated Child Exploitation Unit’s Online Covert Investigations (OCI) Team.

Torresani was arrested on August 9 after performing “live sex acts” on camera with the person he thought was an underage child. The investigation culminated in weeks of chat logs between him and the undercover team member.

He’s now being charged with online child luring.

According to the BC RCMP, this is one of a number of cases that has been investigated by BC ICE since the creation of its OCI team in 2011. They say the role of the sex crime investigators is to engage with and prosecute the “worst of the worst offenders” – those who try to have sex with children.

Head of BC ICE Sergeant Hernan Topacio says this kind of work should be left to them, rather than vigilante groups that have been popping up lately.

“The police do absolutely recognize the need to pursue individuals who look to prey on our children,” says Topacio in a release. “However, given the tremendous risks for public safety should these vigilante confrontations go horribly wrong, or for the true predators to walk away without being prosecuted, this is a job that should be left to the police”

The RCMP ask that if you know of any incidents of child exploitation to report it at cybertip.ca.