To Catch a Predator · Petaluma investigation
Vaikunth Soundarajan
Vaikunth Soundarajan was arrested during the Petaluma, California investigation. He pleaded no contest and received three months in jail and 35 months of probation.
Photo: To Catch a Predator Wiki
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Evidence
- Attributed reporting
- Jurisdiction
- Sonoma County, California
- Encounter
- Not established
- Decoy posed as
- Girl4
- Case number
- Not established
Personal details
- Occupation
- IT worker
- Marital status
- Single
- Hair
- Black
Charges & sentence
Case records
Hansen investigationSentenced
Sentence
3 months in jail and 35 months of probation; sex-offender registration.6
Reviewed sting-related legal outcome. No current warrant or fugitive status inferred from the 2024 account; plea date is not assumed to be sentencing date. Archived article explicitly reports the single attempted-lewd-act no-contest plea and date. Burglary is an initial allegation with no established final disposition; it is not labeled convicted. Unclear later failure-to-report claim does not establish a new conviction or current warrant.
Sources 6
Case narrative
Biography
Vaikunth Soundarajan was born in East India. He went by the nickname "Vaik" and was twenty-six years old. He was a massive fan of the Pirates of the Caribbea n.
Aftermath
Vaikunth initially pleaded not guilty, but on June 3rd, 2007, he pled no contest to a single count of attempted lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14. He was sentenced to three months in jail and thirty-five months of probation and was required to register as a sex offender.
In a Predators I've Caught Podcast, Chris mentioned, however, Vaikunth did not report to prison on July 27th as expected, and on August 1st, a warrant was issued for his arrest. As of 2024, Vaikunth remains at large, but his arrest warrant is still active to this day.
Trivia
Vaikunth is called a doppelganger to Deepak Bist by the TCaP fandom. While Vaikunth is usually overlooked in the community, his police interrogation has sparked a slight interest in his case due to its unintentionally funny moments. It was uploaded to YouTube by HeyPepe and features the full uncut footage. Vaiknuth's uncut footage is publicly available; however, with notable jump cuts, it is clear footage still needs to be included. It originated from a commercial and does not have editing or commentary. A blog erroneously reported that Vaikunth had served his time and successfully petitioned to be removed from the register in 2017, but Joey proved this false.
Community-written, from the To Catch a Predator Wiki. Not independently verified, and it does not establish charges or court outcomes.
Vaikunth Soundarajan, To Catch a Predator Wiki contributors; see revision and history links. · CC-BY-SA
Media
Sources
- 1Vaikunth Soundarajan on MegaphonePublic episode metadata matches the publisher RSS recording by title, release date and exact enclosure identifier. Reviewed publisher title/description names this profile as the subject of the recording.
- 2Vaikunth Soundarajan on SpotifyPublic episode metadata matches the publisher RSS recording by title, release date and exact enclosure identifier. Reviewed publisher title/description names this profile as the subject of the recording.
- 3Vaikunth Soundarajan on Apple PodcastsPublic episode metadata matches the publisher RSS recording by title, release date and exact enclosure identifier. Reviewed publisher title/description names this profile as the subject of the recording.
- 4Vaikunth Soundarajan (community wiki)Attributed community article. Revision date describes the article update, not a court or sting event. Full infobox, narrative sections, references and assets are retained in the private archive.
- 5Vaikunth Soundarajan: occupation informationThe profile infobox lists these occupations. Undated roles do not establish current employment.
- 6Vaikunth Soundarajan: legal outcome (revision 13510)3 months in jail and 35 months of probation; sex-offender registration.