A Saskatchewan mother is shocked after her 14-year-old girl ran away with a man nearly three times her age.
"There's so many predators out there, and kids are so naive," she told CTV News from her home in Swift Current Sask.
Her daughter met a 41-year-old man on-line, and the two formed a relationship.
"I found the window wide open, and she was gone and there was a note on her bed," the mother said.
Winnipeg police caught up with the pair at the bus depot on Portage Avenue. The teen-age girl was uninjured.
41-year-old Daniel George Nicolson of Windsor, Ontario has been charged with abduction of a person under the age of 16.
"We do understand that she had left a note at the family home and advised that she was leaving," said RCMP Sgt. Brad Kaeding in Regina. "Our information at this point is she did leave the home voluntarily."
Winnipeg police alerted to arrival
Police in Saskatchewan believed the pair was on a bus travelling west, and alerted Winnipeg police that they would be arriving here Tuesday evening.
"We live in the age of MSN and all of these other different Internet pages where our children can log on and you never know who you're meeting or who you're talking too," said Winnipeg Police Sgt. Kelly Dennison.
Signy Arnason of the Canadian Centre for Protection of Children told CTV's Caroline Barghout that while children are vulnerable, they often do know who they're talking to.
"Statistically what we're finding is children aren't being duped by how old the person is," she said.
Arnason said parents need to be clear with their kids about what's acceptable adult behaviour.
"It is abnormal for an adult to want to befriend a child," she said. "Children should be aware of that, and that should cue them in that something isn't right about it."
The girl has been turned over to Manitoba Child and Family Services, and will be reunited with her family.
With a report from CTV's Caroline Barghout.
