Port Moody mayor charged with sex assault

A special prosecutor has approved a charge of sex assault against Port Moody Mayor Robert Vagramov.

The assault is alleged to have happened in Coquitlam on April 1, 2015, court records show.

Michael Klein was appointed as special prosecutor to look into the allegations against Vagramov in December, according to a press release from the B.C. Prosecution Service.

The sex assault charge was sworn on Wednesday. Vagramov is scheduled to make his first court appearance in provincial court in Port Coquitlam on April 25.

CBC has reached out to Vagramov for comment, but he has yet to respond. Officials at the City of Port Moody have said they would not be commenting Thursday and can’t say whether Vagramov will stay on as mayor.

Controversial video

Vagramov was elected mayor last fall at the age of 26, after four years on council. He is currently the youngest mayor in B.C.

There is nothing in B.C. law that would disqualify a local government official from serving even if convicted of a serious crime.

During his campaign for mayor, Vagramov came under fire for a 2014 video that showed him asking a homeless man to shotgun a beer in exchange for a sandwich.

When the video surfaced, he told CBC he “wouldn’t have made it today,” but also denounced the attention as a “smear campaign.”