Livermore police were called to Walmart to help man being harassed, but then learned he had allegedly arrived to meet 15-year-old girl

LIVERMORE — On the night of April 15, a security guard at a Walmart here called police to assist a man who was being aggressively accosted by a half-dozen teenagers assaulting a man and screaming “pedophile” at him outside the store.

An officer arrived and separated the teens from 31-year-old Vivek Agrawal, he offered no specific reason behind the attack, according to police.

“I was browsing through the shoe section and these guys came and attacked me,” authorities say Agrawal told the Livermore police officer.

But then the officer spoke with one of the teens, and that’s when the investigation took a drastic turn. Two months later, after a review of digital evidence found Agrawal’s MeetMe profile, the Alameda County District Attorney charged him with a misdemeanor count of meeting a child for lewd purposes, a misdemeanor.

The case is just another example of an increasingly popular social media trend that involves a person posing as a minor and arranging a meeting with an adult, only to film, shame, and accost whoever shows up for the meeting. Ironically, those who partake are essentially mimicking real police investigations, but the consequences can be unpredictable.

In Brentwood, for instance, a 44-year-old man allegedly placed a boy in a headlock then ran off after being trapped in a similar sting by a group of teens. But the incident led to federal charges being filed against the man.

In Agrawal’s case, he was arrested June 15 — two months after the Walmart incident — near his home in San Francisco, but has since been released from jail. He pleaded not guilty at a July 7 court appearance, records show.

Livermore police investigators determined that the group of teens who were hitting and yelling at Agrawal that night had created a profile on MeetMe, a social media app for adults. The profile depicted a teen girl who was listed as 18 years old, but when Agrawal contacted the person, the user on the other end — a teenage boy pretending to be a 15-year-old girl — revealed her fictitious underage identity.

“Is it ok I’m 15?” the “girl,” who went by Kristie, allegedly asked Agrawal.

“That’s alright,” Agrawal allegedly responded.

In subsequent conversations, Agrawal allegedly told “Kristie” he was attracted to her, tried to meet up with her, and attempted several times to call, without success. Eventually the two arranged to meet up at the Walmart in Livermore, under the fake story that “Kristie’s” home was nearby.

“Daddy wants to (expletive) you real hard tonight but you’re not listening to me,” Agrawal allegedly said during one conversation.

When Agrawal allegedly arrived at the Walmart, the group recognized him from a picture he sent “Kristie” and began accosting him, according to police. After the officer arrived, one of the teens explained the ruse and invited police to review the chat history between Agrawal and “Kristie” on MeetMe. Police contacted the social media company for the transcripts, and after reviewing them, brought a case to the DA’s office, authorities said.