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A Cupertino man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly stalking underage girls in the South Bay, as well as the Los Angeles area, Santa Clara County sheriff’s officials said.
Detectives with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and the Los Altos Police Department arrested 35-year-old Rajeev Sanhi of Cupertino at his home Wednesday, March 8. A search of Sanhi’s residence turned up several collages of his underage victims, gifts for victims, and a personalized license plate for one victim, sheriff’s officials said.
An ongoing investigation into Sanhi was initiated after a
14-year-old female reported that she was approached by Sanhi on multiple occasions. Sanhi allegedly offered the girl money, show tickets and other material items, and followed her home more than a dozen times.
Although confronted by one of the girl’s family members about his behavior, Sanhi allegedly continued to follow and harass the juvenile, sheriff’s officials said.
During the investigation, detectives learned that Sanhi had numerous prior encounters with law enforcement officials due to similar activities. In February, authorities identified Sanhi as a suspect in similar incidents in Saratoga, Los Altos, Los Gatos, San Jose and the Los Angeles area.
Sanhi allegedly gave his victims a business card that included his website, www.jcmakeover.com.
Sanhi allegedly attempted to volunteer as a youth mentor or pastor at several South Bay churches. Some churches have told Sanhi that he is unwelcome at their establishments because of his behavior toward young females, sheriff’s officials said.
Sanhi also applied to be a nanny and a school teacher, but authorities said there is no evidence that he was ever hired as a teacher.
According to sheriff’s officials, at least 19 minors have been victims of Sanhi over the course of several years. Detectives believe there are still several unidentified victims in Santa Clara County.
Anyone with information about Sanhi or this investigation is asked to contact the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau at (408) 808-4500.
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Very sad that these Christian churches just turned their back on this problem instead of calling the police on this child predator. Hopefully, no children were seriously injured. The Sheriff says he was likely operating for years around California before he was finally arrested.
I think his last name is spelled incorrectly in the article. It is likely to be Sahni, not Sanhi.
Why is it that churches choose to be silent when they can identify predators of young people? They should be charged as silent accomplices whose silence is tantamount to tacit approval.
I hope we are not too quick to criticize church communities negatively. It is possible that some did report suspicious or questionable behavior and the suspect was already being watched. Without “victims” who would report or testify, law enforcement couldn’t do much.Thankfully, harassment was reported before there was worse outcomes.
Actually one of the churches did contact the police that is why he got arrested. The elders at my church contacted the police in January. Keep in mind that went to several different churches so the elders were unaware of his activities at the other churches until recently (there is no central church organization for non-Catholics). He had recently come to ours.