Alberta boy escapes alleged abductor’s car in ‘catch a predator’ scheme police call ‘amazingly dangerous’
Boy voluntarily entered car ‘so that the other youth could record the interaction,’ Airdrie RCMP say
A 12-year-old boy escaped from the car of an alleged 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, who are strongly discouraging this type of vigilante activity.
The boy was allegedly abducted on Monday evening 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 in the same age range, possibly as many as 10 in total, started a conversation with the suspect and arranged to meet him via Snapchat, without the knowledge of any parents, in an attempt to expose the man as a child predator.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned,” said RCMP Cpl. Gina Slaney.
The 12-year-old boy voluntarily entered the suspect’s vehicle so the other youth could record the interaction on video, police said, and the suspect then drove away. The boy later escaped from the vehicle while it was stopped at a red light and called 911.
WATCH | Why RCMP say luring predators is an extremely dangerous game to play:
Boy escapes alleged abductor in ‘catch a predator’ scheme: RCMP
August 21|
Duration1:49A 12-year-old Alberta boy escaped from the car of an alleged abductor after he and a group of other children planned a “catch a predator scheme” on Snapchat, according to RCMP.
The suspect 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.
Suspect has ‘history with police’
Airdrie RCMP have now charged a 37-year-old Calgary man with numerous offences such as luring of a child under the age of 14, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, kidnapping and forcible confinement and three counts of breaching a prohibition order.
Cpl. Christopher Hrynyk with the Airdrie RCMP’s specialized investigation unit said the suspect has “a history with police” and the breach charges relate to “previous investigations which did encapsulate minors being involved.”
“We’ve had more than one investigation and file with this offender,” added Staff Sgt. Mark Auger with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team’s internet child exploitation unit.
Social media trend ‘dangerous,’ police say
Auger said the children’s attempt at vigilante justice is part of a “growing trend” on social media that began in the United States and has migrated to Canada.
“In my opinion, this all came from the television program To Catch a Predator,”he said.
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Auger said the difference between that long-running American reality show and what people have been doing on social media is that the show involved police officers from the get-go, whereas the social media versions are typically amateur operations that put people at significant risk of harm.
“A lot of these setups and these stings will end in violence, in suicide, in sexual assault,” he said.
The evidence gathered by vigilantes “ad-libbing” their way through online conversations with potential predators also presents “horrendous” challenges for actually prosecuting any alleged crimes, Auger said.
“A lot of that will be what we consider tainted evidence because we don’t how the script went, how the conversation went. Was it entrapment? Who started the conversation down that road?”
Police also urged parents to have conversations with their kids about online behaviour like this.
“It’s amazingly dangerous what happened with this incident,” Auger said.
Clarifications
- An earlier version of this article said the Calgary man was charged with abduction of a person under the age of 14. In fact, he is charged with kidnapping, unlawful confinement, and luring a child under the age of 14. Abduction is a separate charge under the Criminal Code.
Youth organize ‘catch a predator’ scheme, Alberta man charged: RCMP
By Meghan Cobb Global News
Posted August 20, 2025 12:26 pm
Updated August 22, 2025 12:37 pm
1 min read
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Airdrie RCMP have charged a Calgary man after responding to a call about a child abduction involving a 12-year-old boy.
RCMP says an investigation found at least seven youths arranged a meeting with the suspect through Snapchat in a “catch a predator” scheme.
The victim got into the suspect’s car voluntarily in the Coopers Crossing neighbourhood in Airdrie so the others could record the interaction. That is when the suspect drove away.
2:26Law enforcement discusses abduction case that started ‘catch a predator’ scheme
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The victim was able to escape the vehicle when it stopped at a red light, then called 911. RCMP attempted a traffic stop after locating the vehicle, but the suspect fled. The suspect was later arrested at a residence in northeast Calgary with the help of the Calgary Police Service and its HAWCS air support unit.
A 37-year-old man is in custody facing multiple charges, including abduction of a person under 14, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, kidnapping and forcible confinement.
After Two Seasons, [SPOILER] Was Just Arrested on Found – What Happened?
Justice is served at last!
By Josh Weiss May 1, 2025, 11:00 PM ET
**SPOILER WARNING! The following contains major spoilers for Found Season 2, Episode 20!**
With Lena (Danielle Savre) wreaking havoc while on the run and Sir (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) cooperating with the FBI for special treatment, Gabi Mosely (Shanola Hampton) and the rest of the M&A team really deserved to catch a break in the final episodes of Found Season 2.
How to Watch
Watch Found on NBC and Peacock.
They got just that in Episode 20, “Missing While Independent,” which featured a satisfying resolution of the mystery surrounding Jamie’s disappearance.
RELATED: Sir Is Out of Prison on Found – and Working with [SPOILER]?! “He Loves the Game…”
“Our show is called Found. We end every episode with them putting a picture up on the Found Wall and saying, ‘Welcome home!’ But the story doesn’t end when you return a person to their life. Gabi is the poster child for how it continues; the trauma that needs to be dealt with, the healing that needs to happen,” creator, showrunner, and executive producer Nkechi Okoro Carroll told NBC Insider. “We get to see that in real-time with Jamie. We’re with him from Day 1 of his return and watch him try to navigate [his abduction]. He was taken just before his 7th birthday and he’s now 20. That’s a long time to be away from your family and to navigate people who only remember you as the 6-year-old version of you.”
Found Season 2, Episode 20, “Missing While Independent” features arrest of Jamie’s kidnapper
Margaret (Kelli Williams) in Found Season 2, Episode 18.Photo: Matt Miller/NBC
The waking nightmare endured by Margaret (Kelli Williams) for more than a decade finally came to an end with the arrest of the unbalanced woman who took her son: Carrie (Suehyla El-Attar Young). For years, Carrie inserted herself into Margaret’s life, offering faux comfort and friendship with the sole purpose of learning more about the boy she wanted to now raise as her own.
Carrie claimed to have a lost her biological son, Nicholas, to a birth defect, but in reality, he was taken away by Child Protective Services because she was an unfit mother. Carrie’s already delicate mind completely snapped and she adopted (in the loosest sense of the word) Jamie as a surrogate son, constantly poisoning him against his own family by asserting they wanted nothing to do with him.
RELATED: Found Stars On Shocking Kiss Between [REDACTED]: “Like I Was Just in My Own Little Romantic Film”
Once he grew up, however, Jamie (played as an adult by Parker Queenan) wanted to know the truth for certain and revealed his existence to Margaret in Season 2, Episode 11, “Missing While Misunderstood.” In spite of this decision to come forward, Jamie still remained aloof, caught between two mothers with two wildly different narratives to tell.
“It was a conflicting thing for me,” Queenan admits. “It’s different than you’d play a lot of kidnapped characters, because when I first got the audition, I read ‘kidnapped character’ and thought, ‘Well, he’s got to be very [traumatized].’ You imagine you’re in a cage or something for 10 years and malnourished. But no, Jamie is a healthy, normal young man. And that’s very different. You’re just a person who suddenly realizes that their life isn’t what it is. It’s very different.”
Found stars talk friction between Dhan and Jamie
Jamie (Parker Daniel Queenan) in Found Season 2, Episode 18.Photo: Matt Miller/NBC
Most of the M&A team was overjoyed at Jamie’s long-awaited return, but Dhan (Karan Oberoi) remained wary, wanting to prove the young man’s identity with a DNA test before celebrating.
“Dhan’s skeptical about every situation,” Oberoi tells NBC Insider over Zoom, going on to add that his character does have empathy for the alleged Jamie. “There’s an understanding. There’s this instinctual kind of understanding that he has for Jamie and what he’s been through. The captivity issue is something he understands, and he tries, but he doesn’t want to try too much.”
“He was the lingering one,” echoes Queenan. “He was the one that I still had yet to convince and make an impact on. It’s cool, because his character in the show is the tough one. He has a gravelly outside, but it’s because he’s very protective. It’s not because he’s mean, it’s because he cares about the people that he’s with, and he doesn’t want Margaret to be impacted. He saw what happened to her previously where she had a lot of a lot of stress and emotional weight from the loss of her son. And he’s like, ‘I don’t want you to get hurt again.'”
RELATED: We Finally Learn Who Kidnapped Margaret’s Son on Found – and It’s [SPOILER]!
After putting all the pieces together and deducing the guilty culprit (with a little help from Sir, of course), Margaret confronts Carrie in the middle of a punishing snowstorm. This solo approach doesn’t go so well when Carrie physically attacks Margaret, rendering her unconscious. Jamie shows up just in time and decides to stay with his biological mother, despite Carrie’s insistence that they need to run away together. Interestingly, this was Queenan’s first scene with El-Attar Young after building more of a rapport with Williams. It works to the show’s advantage, given that Jamie is now seeing his adoptive mother for what she truly is: a monster.
“It was almost like a crossover scene of different TV shows because his life previous to that was entirely separate from the life that he’s currently in,” the actor explains. “It’s like he’s living a double life and suddenly, these double lives are crossing over, which is very confusing. It’s almost like you host a party with two best friends that you know very well, but they don’t know each other and it’s super awkward. Only this is obviously much higher stakes [with] a lot of blood and hurting people.”
Detective Trent serves justice in Found Season 2, Episode 20
Detective Mark Trent (Brett Dalton) in Found Season 2, Episode 20.Photo: Matt Miller/NBC
The wheels of justice finally get turning once Jamie confides in Detective Mark Trent (Brett Dalton), who was obviously invested in Jamie’s disappearance, but could serve as more of an objective party when compared to Margaret and Gabi.
“It’s actually really great that Trent is the one who Jamie decides to open up to a little bit,” Dalton tells us. “And of all of the people, Trent is the one that Jamie feels like he can go to because he’s a good listener. He weighs all the facts before making a judgment. I think that’s a really beautiful place to be because, it’s not like Dhan who might fly off the handle or maybe think the glass is half empty. I am there, and I’m gathering all the facts before I make a judgment. I think Jamie even says, ‘At the end of the day, everybody says, you’re a good guy,’ and that’s undeniable.”
RELATED: Found Just Revealed the Identity of Sir’s Mystery Accomplice — And It’s [SPOILER]?!
He continues: “That says a lot for the character, and it’s beautiful. I was there for Gabi in Season 1 when she was trying to process the death of her father and all that other stuff. So it’s nice that we can have these quieter moments as well, and that I can be a shoulder to cry on for people or even just [be] an ear [to listen]. Just someone who’s good. These are good, safe, gentle hands.”
Using Nicholas, as bait during a press conference, Margaret and Trent are able to get Carrie in handcuffs. At long last, Margaret and her family can begin to heal, though Jamie has quite the road of psychological recovery ahead of him.
“It would be really nice to see him fully let go of wherever he came from, so that he can go a bit deeper with the people that he’s around and actually let them in a bit more,” Queenan concludes. “He doesn’t show a lot of colors right now, and I think it’s because he’s still very incredulous. He doesn’t really know if these are people that he can trust and so, he’s only giving them parts of himself. But I think once he fully comes to trust them and believe them — and not think that they’re gonna essentially kick him to the curb like he [assumed] in the past — then he’ll show more of his own personality … as he hopefully helps them with investigations and comes to know each one of them individually.”
New episodes of Found air Thursdays on NBC at 10:00 p.m. ET and stream next day on Peacock.
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