Features

High-tech exec sentenced in teen sex scandal

The Associated Press
Tuesday February 26, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO — A former high tech executive was sentenced on Monday to two years and 10 months in prison for trying to have sex with someone he met on the Internet who pretended to be a 14-year-old girl. 

Ranjit Singh Sahota, 37, of Fairfax, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for attempting to persuade and coerce a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity. He was also sentenced to a 3-year period of supervised release. A hearing was scheduled for May 24 to determine the amount of restitution Sahota owes to a girl he allegedly raped in August 2000. 

Sahota was arrested last June at a meeting he set up with an FBI agent posing as a 14-year-old girl. He admitted having online conversations with the agent, telling her he was a college student and he wanted her to be his girlfriend. He also admitted he sent her sexually explicit messages. 

Sahota is the founder and former chief executive officer of MetaTV, a Mill Valley firm that develops portals and formats for interactive Internet television services. He was replaced as CEO of MetaTV in June 2001, just days after his arrest.