Local police report a girl met up with a man she'd been chatting to online at Robins Park in late June, however he wasn't who she thought he was. (Google Maps)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

STRANGER DANGER

Nanaimo girl saved from potential abduction by man she met online

Jul 11, 2022 | 9:32 AM

NANAIMO — A young girl has escaped a likely child luring situation after her meet up was interrupted by onlookers.

The girl, between the ages of 11 and 15, was at Robins Park, off Fifth St. in the early afternoon of June 29 chatting with an older man believed to be in his 50’s at the time.

Nanaimo RCMP Reserve Cst. Gary O’Brien said two City of Nanaimo workers, who were setting up the nearby baseball diamond for a game, noticed some strange body language between the two.

“When they saw the man and girl sitting in the bleachers, they just thought it was odd,” O’Brien said. “They were sitting very close and their interaction seemed to be inappropriate for a father-daughter relationship, so they decided enough was enough and they called us.”

The girl said the man was a friend she’d met online through a social media platform and he was around 25 years old.

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In fact, the man she’d met was 53 and had travelled across the border earlier in the day from the mid-west United States.

Investigators found out the two had been chatting, both through text and video, for the last nine months using a platform called V-sing.

V-sing is an platform where users record themselves singing and upload it for followers to react to. The platform allows for both chat and direct messaging between users.

When interviewing the man privately, police say he couldn’t deny his intentions were sexual in nature however officers were unable to detain him due to a lack of evidence.

“At that time, there was a man and girl sitting beside each other in the bleachers of a baseball field, that’s all it was,” O’Brien told NanaimoNewsNOW. “The two witnesses didn’t see any sexual activity and they didn’t see anything that would define sexual assault by the criminal code.”

O’Brien added both were adamant they were just friends but officers suspect more is at play and an investigation continues.

It was later determined the man was booked in a Nanaimo hotel room for two days following the meet-up.

“We don’t know what would have happened if she ended up at that hotel, what were his intentions? Was he planning to abduct her and take her across the border? We just don’t know.”

Mounties instructed him to leave Nanaimo immediately and return home, which the Canadian Border Services Agency confirmed he did later in the evening.

An investigation into the possible luring and abduction continues through Nanaimo RCMP and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with charges potentially coming against the man.

“Sexual exploitation of a youth and they go up the ladder from there, possibly sex trafficking as well but we just don’t know and there’s a lot of work that has to be done,” O’Brien said.

Police recommend parents and caregivers regularly engage their youth in their online activities and monitor apps and websites they frequently use.

O’Brien also said officers are having “ongoing dialogue” with the girl’s family, who were shocked to learn of what had happened.

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