A 12-year-old boy escaped from the car of an abductor that he and a group of other children arranged to meet as part of a “catch a predator scheme” they had devised on the Snapchat app, according to Alberta RCMP.
The boy was allegedly abducted on the evening of Aug. 18 after getting into the suspect’s vehicle in the Coopers Crossing neighbourhood of Airdrie, just north of Calgary.
Police said he and a group of at least six other children had arranged the meeting via Snapchat in an attempt to expose the man as a child predator.
The boy voluntarily entered the suspect’s vehicle “so that the other youth could record the interaction,” Airdrie RCMP said in a news release, and the suspect then drove away.
“The victim escaped from the vehicle when the suspect stopped at a red light and called 911,” police said.
The suspect then fled in the vehicle, southbound on Highway 2 toward Calgary. With help from a Calgary police helicopter, he was later located at a home in the city’s northeast.
Airdrie RCMP have now charged a 37-year-old Calgary man, who cannot be named due to a publication ban, with numerous offences including abduction of a person under the age of 14, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, kidnapping and forcible confinement.