TRIGGER WARNING: The following article and court document contain extremely explicit depictions of Vincent Sarikey’s alleged abuse of a minor.

PLEASE NOTE: The criminal cases against Vincent Sarikey and the alleged crimes described in this article/document are completely unrelated to the Wenke case. I’m currently in the process of setting up a separate website for cases unrelated to Wenke.

While combing through digital evidence following an FBI raid on the Herndon, Virginia home of convicted pedophile Vincent Sarikey in late 2022, investigators discovered devices containing photos and videos that appeared to show Sarikey and his ex-girlfriend engaging in sexual conduct with the ex-girlfriend’s prepubescent sister. According to the criminal complaint below, the abuse is estimated to have taken place from February 2009 to May 2010, when Sarikey was living in Indianapolis.

The alleged molestation reportedly took place on at least three occasions at Sarikey’s studio apartment on Tanglewood Square after he confessed to his teenage girlfriend that he was sexually attracted to minors. Court documents allege that Sarikey told his then-girlfriend that he had only ever looked at images of juveniles, but that he craved a hands-on experience.

After discovering the content featuring the victim in Sarikey’s trove of child sex abuse material (CSAM, also commonly known as “child pornography”), federal authorities spoke with Sarikey’s ex-girlfriend (the victim’s sister), who allegedly admitted to facilitating and participating in the abuse, including explicit activities that were depicted in the photos and videos.

Detectives also interviewed the victim, who was able to corroborate the visual evidence with her memories of the abuse. She stated that she denied the abuse when questioned by a social worker years later because her older sister (the ex-girlfriend) had instructed her to keep it a secret.

Sarikey’s Alleged Blackmail Threats

Vincent Sarikey allegedly threatened to expose his ex-girlfriend’s involvement in the sexual abuse of her sister following their break-up in 2011. He was also accused of threatening to blackmail his ex if she ever told anyone about the abuse or if he fell under legal scrutiny, including in 2015 after the Indiana Department of Children’s Services contacted him regarding the matter.

In addition to allegations that Sarikey threatened his ex-girlfriend directly, the criminal complaint below states that he shared his potential plans to expose her during his online conversations with a friend (“Witness 3”) between 2015 and 2017. During these discussions, Sarikey also indicated that he was worried about having children due to a fear that he might be tempted to sexually abuse them. He also described the victim, who was then a teenager, as a mentally challenged liar while implying that this would make her easy to discredit if she accused him of harm.

In what may arguably be the most disturbing detail in the complaint regarding Sarikey’s conversations with Witness 3, he stated that he only did what the victim “wanted” or allowed, and that he “had it set up” to show that his ex-girlfriend orchestrated the abuse.

My Take As a Former Friend of Vincent Sarikey

First off, if I had even slightly suspected Vincent Sarikey of harming a minor during our friendship, I would’ve reported my concerns to the authorities right away. In hindsight, I realised that there were signs, but they weren’t obvious. While I reflect on this situation deeply and often, I don’t fault myself for not picking up on what was happening. Here are some examples:

I always wondered why Vincent Sarikey maintained contact with his ex-girlfriend — the victim’s sister — years after their break-up. It was evident, based on the things he said about this woman, that he despised her. Because I didn’t know that he had abused his ex’s sister and that he was worried about being busted, I didn’t understand why he kept talking to his ex. I remember asking questions to the effect of, “If you hate her so much, why not cut ties?” Sarikey never provided a clear answer to this question.

In or after 2015, Sarikey mentioned that his ex-girlfriend had made allegations to a therapist or social worker regarding an incident involving her younger sister. He seemed panicked, but he eventually calmed down and told me that the situation had been squared away. I interpreted this to mean that my friend had been falsely accused of some sort of inappropriate behaviour, and that he had successfully cleared his name — not that he had intimidated his ex-girlfriend into silence by threatening to expose her. (The therapist incident is mentioned in the criminal complaint below.)

Around 2020, toward the end of my friendship with Vincent Sarikey, he sent me a series of bizarre late-night messages stating that he was drunk and suicidal. He expressed immense guilt over what he described as inappropriate feelings, but he didn’t go into detail about the exact nature of these feelings. When I asked Sarikey if he had committed any harm or crimes against anyone, he adamantly denied it. At that point, his “inappropriate feelings” could’ve pertained to anything that violated his marriage, but not necessarily anything criminal.

A few similar conversations occurred, and I became annoyed. Sarikey wasn’t being very forthcoming. He refused to explain exactly what he felt overwhelmingly guilty about, and it limited my ability to offer advice and support as a friend. I also started to wonder if Sarikey had, in fact, done something wrong or criminal, but he continued to deny harming anyone or having any plans to do so.

I told Sarikey that if I began to suspect him of harming someone, I’d have no choice but to tell law enforcement. But at that point, he was being so vague that I didn’t have any reportable information — just a mere suspicion, based on his cryptic behaviour, that he had mistreated or betrayed someone. I began to distance myself from Sarikey for this and other, unrelated reasons (namely his arrogance), and in 2021 I ended our friendship for good.

The Case Appears to Be Ongoing

A separate case against Vincent Sarikey for possessing and producing CSAM was settled in federal court in Virginia in 2023, resulting in a 25-year prison term. The case discussed in this article (1:23-mj-00271) was overseen by the federal court in Indiana’s Southern District and appears to remain open based on records, but there haven’t been any developments since 2023. I’m not sure if it’s ongoing or if it was settled as part of the CSAM case, but I find it extremely disturbing that Vincent Sarikey will one day rejoin the free world, where he’ll have access to technology and children.