Edmonton man pleads guilty to targeting, sexually exploiting young girls over social media

An Edmonton man has admitted to a slew of sexual offences against eight young girls who he connected with over social media.

Imesh Ratnayake, 23, pleaded guilty to 11 criminal charges in Edmonton's Court of King's Bench on Tuesday, admitting that between January 2020 and December 2022, he sought out and exploited girls living in the Edmonton area, who were between the ages of 11 and 16.

Ratnayake was set to go to trial on 37 counts in October, but on Tuesday pleaded guilty to 11 charges, including:

• Two counts of touching a person under 16 for a sexual purpose;
• Six counts of using telecommunication to communicate with a person under 18 in the commission of an offence;
• One count of making child pornography;
• One count of transmitting child pornography;
• One count of extortion.

Ratnayake appeared by video conference from the Edmonton Remand Centre for the hearing, and entered guilty pleas for each count, confirming to Justice James Neilson that he understood the implications of foregoing a trial.

Following the pleas, Crown prosecutor Stephanie Morton read out a lengthy agreed statement of facts, detailing Ratnayake's offences.

Court heard that Ratnayake primarily used Snapchat to connect with the girls he has admitted to exploiting, though in one case he reached out over Instagram.

In some cases, he would learn the girl's age and tell her he was a teenager, despite being an adult at the time.

In October 2021, two of the youngest girls he friended on Snapchat agreed to meet up with him in person. Ratnayake offered to provide the girls with disposable vape pens in exchange for sexual acts, according to the court document.

When he met up with the two girls in November, he filmed it on his phone as he sexually abused each of them. 

Though both girls met up with him again, both tried to cease contact with him in the months that followed. He used other social media accounts to try to re-add the girls as friends.

When one of the girls accepted a friend request from a different account name, he sent a message saying "do you know who I am?" and when she replied she didn't, he sent the video he'd taken of the other girl.

He went on to share that video, and on one occasion the video of the other girl as well, with other girls he was speaking with online.

In May 2022, one of the videos began circulating among the victim's schoolmates, and she was taunted online and in person by her peers. The video was shared by so many students at the girl's school, that staff found out and contacted police. 

Other victims

After the girl's interview with police, investigators in the Northern Alberta Internet Child Exploitation Unit were able to identify three other victims, as well as Ratnayake as the adult male who had been communicating with them.

Ratnayake was arrested and charged, and released on bail until further forensic investigation of his various devices turned up further victims.

According to the agreed statement of facts, Ratnayake's offences against the other girls were varied, though all started through private online chats.

In some cases, he would convince the girls to send him nude photos or explicit videos, or to engage in video calls while he directed them to perform sexual acts. 

When some of the girls attempted to stop communication, he would extort them by revealing that he'd taken screen recordings of the explicit videos or photos, and would threaten to share them if they didn't comply with his demands for further sexual exploitation. Others were sent the videos of his sexual abuse of the two girls he met up with in person.

Ratnayake's defence lawyer David Phillips requested both a pre-sentencing and psychiatric report be prepared ahead of his client's sentencing, which is scheduled for Nov. 15.