Three men accused, charged for sex offences on Metro transit

Three men have been arrested in connection with various sex offences in unrelated cases on public transit in the Metro Vancouver area.

Chia Ning Liu, 60, was arrested May 20 in connection with two incidents.

On April 28 around 3:15 p.m., a woman on an eastbound bus at 41st Avenue and Fraser Street was groped by a man sitting beside her. She resisted and told him not to touch her. The man got off the bus at 41st and Windsor Street a short time later and the woman immediately reported the incident to Transit police.

On May 9 at 6:45 a.m., a woman headed to BCIT on an eastbound bus was groped at Hastings Street near Boundary Road by a man sitting beside her. She pushed his hand away, but he continued. The woman got up and went to a different seat before disembarking at BCIT. She then reported the incident while the groper remained on-board.

Video footage was examined from both buses and officers were able to identify a suspect. After Liu’s photo was distributed to all patrol officers, he was spotted at Waterfront Station on May 20 and arrested.

Liu has been remanded in custody until his next court appearance in Vancouver on June 5.

In the second case, a man was found to have been making lewd comments to a woman at the Surrey Central bus loop on May 21.

The woman told police nearby that the man had been reaching into his pants to touch himself while speaking to her. Police found a suspect, identified as a 44-year-old Surrey resident familiar to cops, and he was interviewed and released on a promise to appear. He is to be back in Surrey provincial court July 6.

The third and final arrest came after a man exposed himself to others on a Canada Line train at Olympic Village on Saturday.

After leaving the Canada Line station, the man later exposed himself to another person at a bus stop in the 500-block West 2nd Avenue.

Both incidents were reported to Transit police, who were unable to locate the man.

Later that evening cops received reports of a man who was waving scissors, yelling at passersby, and exposing himself in the 3900-block Point Grey Road. The man, who matched the description from earlier, was then arrested at 4th Avenue and Wallace Street.

A 21-year-old Vancouver resident has been released and will re-appear in court July 12 for two counts of indecent acts.