Boy, 12, abducted after ‘To Catch a Predator’-style sting with pals goes wrong

A 12-year-old boy was abducted when a paedophile sting hatched by him and his friends went horribly wrong.

The youngster and his friends lured the 37-year-old man to a meeting in Airdrie, north of Calgary, in Canada, over Snapchat as part of a ‘To Catch a Predator’-style ruse.

He got into the mark’s car ‘voluntarily’ so the others could film the illegal encounter, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

‘This is when the suspect drove away,’ they added.

The boy managed to flee the car when his kidnapper stopped at a red light.

Police soon traced the suspect and tried to pull him over. He drove off but was later arrested at an address in northeast Calgary after a RCMP helicopter was drafted in to follow him.

The man is due in court next week charged with nine offences including abduction of a person under the age of 14, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, kidnapping, forcible confinement and breaching a prohibition order.

Mounties said the youngsters are OK despite the ‘amazingly dangerous’ stunt.

Airdrie RCMP Corporal Christopher Hrynyk said he has not seen anything like it in more than two decades of service.

‘It’s such a dangerous situation to put themselves in. We don’t encourage anybody to take these vigilante steps,’ he said.

‘A lot of these setups and these stings will end in violence, in suicide, in sexual assault. It’s not worth the risk.’

Cpl. Hrynyk told the Calgary Herald of the youths: ‘We’re more concerned for their safety, their health, and well-being.

‘It’s a fine balance between getting the information about what happened and discouraging action on their part in the future.’

Undercover paedophile stings were popularised by the hit US TV show Dateline: To Catch a Predator.

Staff posing as children would prowl chatrooms and forums for perverts and engage them in conversation with the ultimate aim of luring them to a meeting, ostensibly for sex.

When they arrived, they would be confronted by host Chris Hansen, armed with a print-out of the obscene chats, before police moved in to arrest them.

The trend has since been picked up by vigilante groups posting videos of the stings on social media.

Speaking to CBC News, RCMP Staff Sergeant Mark Auger said: ‘It’s been a wide-known tactic in the States, it’s now starting to arrive here. We’ve come across it a fair bit.

‘This is not an avenue to go down. It is not prosecutable, it’s not safe, and it’s more dangerous – there’s no reward.’

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