Predator's Plan Thwarted by Beltrami Police

On Friday, April 24, 2009, the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office received a runaway report regarding a fifteen year old rural Bemidji female who had disappeared from Bemidji at the end of the school day. Follow-up investigation by Deputies indicated the young girl had left Bemidji on a bus for the East Coast. Deputies worked with family members to determine the girl’s route. The investigation indicated she was on her way to meet with a predator she had met via the internet and with whom she had been corresponding by text messages. The predator made the travel arrangements for her to come to Massachusetts to meet with him.

Chicago Police Officers were alerted by Deputies and eventually found and took the girl off the bus at the bus depot in Chicago, Illinois, on Saturday. The girl’s mother flew to Chicago and safely returned to Bemidji with the girl on Sunday.

In the meantime, Beltrami Deputies spoke with Detectives of the Attleboro, MA and Providence, RI Police Departments, and worked to identify the predator involved. At 3 AM this morning, officers in Providence, RI, went to the bus station, where the girl was supposed to meet with the predator. Detectives successfully identified the predator waiting to pick-up the girl at the bus station. The predator, a 26 year old white male from Alabama, was arrested at the bus station and remains in custody pending charges in Rhode Island.