P.A. child home safe, abductor had previous trouble
19-year-old accused of kidnapping, sex assault after Amber Alert was issued in Prince Albert
A man arrested in connection with the abduction of an eight-year old Prince Albert girl on Tuesday afternoon now faces charges of abduction, kidnapping, abandoning a child, criminal negligence, forcible confinement, sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching.
The mother of the girl who was abducted and later found safe says her daughter “is good.”
The girl was abducted from a playground in the city on Tuesday afternoon, triggering an Amber Alert.
The alert was active for a few hours before the eight-year-old was found safe.
Her mother posted an update on her Facebook page about her daughter’s safe return.
“I really want to say thank you to everyone who has offered help, prayers and support,” the girl’s mother wrote.
On Wednesday afternoon, she posted that her daughter was not unsupervised, but was with her grandmother at the time.
“She left just for five minutes to grab a bottle of water. Everyone who knows our family can confirm that we always care and try protect our daughter more than enough!” she wrote.
On Wednesday morning, a police spokesperson said 19-yearold Jared Charles was arrested in connection to the girl’s abduction without incident at 11:15 p.m. Tuesday at a business in the 2900 block of 2nd Avenue West in Prince Albert. Charles is set to make his first court appearance Thursday morning.
In a statement issued at the time of the Amber Alert activation, police said the girl was playing at a playground in the Crescent Acres area of the city alone.
A man, described as having long, shaggy black hair, is said to have entered the playground alone, hanging around for about 15 minutes.
The girl was seen leaving the playground, followed by the man.
Police went on to say in the statement that the man was seen taking the girl against the school wall, then grabbing her and putting her in the back seat of his car.
The man then climbed into the front seat of the vehicle and drove away, police said in the statement.
Charles had been charged with two counts of abduction in 2016, which were stayed in December of that year.
He was accused of taking two boys in La Ronge on Sept. 28, which led to an Amber Alert.
Police received a report about two boys, then 10 and 8, who were missing and believed to be in the company of a man in a silver van.
Crown prosecutor Luke Coupal, who handled the case, on Tuesday said in a telephone interview the evidence showed Charles “never abducted” the two boys.
One of the children phoned home to tell his mother he didn’t want to return home, he wanted to stay with Charles, Coupal recalled.
The mother told her son no and to return home and the son refused to comply.
“So Jared, although he was an adult among the group, he wasn’t abducting the children, he wasn’t taking the children,” Coupal said.
The parents, concerned their children weren’t going to return home, then contacted the police.
When the police arrived at Charles’ grandmother’s house, the three were found playing video games, eating chips and drinking pop, Coupal said.
Coupal said a charge of abduction under the Criminal Code requires there be intent to deprive a parent or guardian who has lawful care of that person under the age of 14 of the possession of that person.
“He had no intent to deprive the parent or guardian of the possession of those people,” he said.
“He was just hanging out with those kids and he is friends — I mean these are not strangers to him, those three people were friends, they had been friends for a while ... This was not like he stole strangers, (or) he abducted strangers.
“What the evidences shows is that these were three friends that were hanging out together and there’s no evidence that he intended to take these children away from their parents.
“Without that intent, you can’t be found guilty of abduction.”