Edmonton Man Charged with 18 Additional Sexual Offences Against Minors, Could Have Over 100 Victims

An Edmonton man was charged with 18 sexual offences against minors in the Morinville area. Imesh Ratnayake, 21, was first accused and arrested in July for sexual offences against six children and now, an investigation has revealed there could be more than 100 victims.

Back in July, Imesh Ratnayake was arrested for the first time for sexual offences against six children. He was accused of contacting children aged 11 to 13 online through Snapchat between September 2021 and June 2022 and luring them to meet and perform sexual acts. However, he was released under some conditions. Then, he was arrested again on December 9 after investigations revealed there could be more victims.

Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) now believe that Ratnayake may have victimized more than 100 children. Sgt. Kerry Shima revealed that the investigation surrounding the accused has been going on since June and it has been evolving ever since. She said that thousands of videos and images have been discovered by investigators which could mean there are potentially 100 more victims. “We want parents in the Edmonton Region to discuss this case with their children to determine if they communicated or met with Mr. Ratnayake,” she added.

According to ALERT, Ratnayake used several Snapchat profiles under the usernames “islandsauce0129”and “monked.ruffy.” Matt Wintoni or “mattwintoni” was another one of his aliases. The charges against Ratnayake are as follows:

1. Sexual assault;

2.  Sexual interference;

3.  Luring a child x6;

4.  Making child pornography x2;

5.  Obtaining sexual services for consideration from persons under 18;

6.  Making sexually explicit material available to a child x5;

7.  Utter threats;

8.  Fail to comply with a release order.

Investigators have asked for any information and would like to get in touch with any potential victims of Ratnayake. Anyone with information should call the Edmonton Police Service or Crime Stoppers or their local police.

Vineet Washington