A software engineer from India living in Ross who arranged for sex with a 12-year-old last year is arguing that he should get a lesser prison sentence in part because he says he never intended to have intercourse with the child, but federal prosecutors say his own online chats show that’s a lie.
Vikash Mishra, 41, is among some 10 local men nabbed by the Pittsburgh FBI in recent years for trying to have sex with children who turn out to be undercover agents.
The cases are nearly identical, with the men chatting up their marks on social media, then on text and by phone, with the intent to arrange a tryst. Eventually they set up a meeting, then promptly get arrested when they arrive.
So it was for Mishra when agents collared him in a Shaler park last February.
He pleaded guilty to attempted receipt of child porn, a charge related to asking the undercover — posing as a 12-year-old — for pictures of her vagina.
He’ll be sentenced next month in federal court, but he says he wants the lower end of the agreed-upon range of 87 to 97 months behind bars. Among his reasons: He was going to have oral sex with the girl but not intercourse, and he’s no danger to children because he’s never done anything like this before and won’t again.
“Mr. Mishra cannot explain why, given his love for his family and ‘compassionate’ and ‘kind’ nature, he committed this offense,” said his lawyer, S. Wesley Gorman, in a sentencing memo that includes character letters from friends and family. “It was a total anomaly. It has also destroyed his life. Arpita has left him, with Aariketh, and refuses to speak to him.”
Arpita is his wife and Aariketh their son.
Gorman said Mishra made a “one-time, life-changing mistake” that cost him his family, the respect of his parents in India and his job. But he also argued that in Mishra’s chats with the undercover, he said he would “not do certain things” and later told the FBI that he had no intention of having sexual intercourse. Gorman also put some blame on the undercover, saying his client had “disengaged” from the chats for a time but that the FBI “brought him back into the conversation.”
Gorman said that if the undercover had “set boundaries or left the conversation,” Mishra would have honored those requests and would not have replicated his actions with another child.
Blaming undercovers in these kinds of sex stings is a common defense tactic, but it almost never works in federal cases.
In arguing for the high end of the sentencing range, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Schupansky said Mishra’s words and actions demonstrate he has a sexual interest in children, despite his claims that he doesn’t.
Schupansky also said the contention that Mishra didn’t want intercourse is belied by his own conversation on Jan. 20, 2022, when he told the girl he would buy condoms so she doesn’t get pregnant.
Schupansky said it doesn’t matter anyway.
“Whether it be vaginal intercourse or oral sex with a child,” he said, “both circumstances should warrant an increased sentence.”
The case started in September 2021 when agents set up their profile of a 12-year-old girl to catch pedophiles. Mishra took the bait in October and initiated sex chats on social media. Calling himself “Vik,” he told her he was 30 and lived near Ross Park Mall and enjoyed driving around North Park in his Toyota RAV4. The chats progressed to texting and phone calls.
At one point, the undercover told him she would turn 13 that year and asked if he was “cool” with her age. He asked if she was OK with his age, even though he was lying about it. He also told her to delete their communications after each conversation. In February of last year, Mishra finally arranged for the meeting, saying he would drive to a park near her father’s house in Shaler to pick her up.
The FBI was waiting for him when he showed up.
U.S. District Judge Christy Wiegand will sentence him March 7.
Gorman said Mishra could be subject to deportation, but that he is intending to return to India voluntarily and “repairing his life.”
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
