Posted on 06/09/2006 8:46:53 AM PDT by KJC1
DETROIT — A 16-year-old girl who flew to the Middle East to see a man she met on MySpace.com was detained in Jordan and was headed home Friday, an FBI spokesman said.
U.S. officials persuaded Katherine Lester to take the return flight from Amman, FBI Special Agent Robert Beeckman said from the agency's Detroit office.
Katherine had disappeared from her home in Gilford, in eastern Michigan, on Monday and apparently planned to visit a man whose MySpace account describes him as a 25-year-old from Jericho, said Tuscola County Undersheriff James Jashinske.
The sheriff's department contacted the FBI, which traced the teen to a flight from New York to Amman, Jashinske said. On Thursday night, her family received word from U.S. officials that she had been stopped as she arrived in Amman en route to Tel Aviv, Israel.
Katherine's mother, Shawn Lester, said her daughter had persuaded her in April to help her get a passport so she could go on a two-week vacation to Canada with a friend's family.
On Sunday, they drove to a bus station for that trip, but the family didn't show up. Shawn Lester said she called them, learned there was no trip and brought her daughter home. The next day, Katherine was gone.
Jashinske said it remained unclear whether any law had been violated. An online conversation with a 16-year-old is not illegal in Michigan, but solicitation for sex would be. He said deputies confiscated the family's home computer and were taking it to the FBI's Bay City office Friday for analysis.
FBI spokesman Brian Endrizal declined to provide any details and would not comment on the man's identity or background.
American teens can be incredibly stupid.
She's lucky to be headed at all...
Related article:
http://www.tampabays10.com/news/national/article.aspx?storyid=33116
American parents can be incredibly stupid too. This mother helped her 16 year old daughter get a passport, supposedly for a two week trip to Canada with a friend's family, drove the girl to the airport to leave on the trip, and all this time she had never had one word of communication with the adults in the family she was planning to send her daughter off with for 2 weeks. Little wonder the girl figured her mother would be stupid enough to leave her at the airport, if the girl just said "I'm sure they'll be here soon, you just go on home now."
And have incredibly too much access to $$$.
susie
The girl is lucky. She could have ended up like the girl in Aruba -- disappeared either into white slavery or dirt nap.
Excellent point. What was this mother thinking? Or not thinking?
There are some sizable Islamic cultures in Michigan.
Are there some in her region of the state? Is the family muslim?
Long way to travel for a "date".
And then there is this... "she arrived in Amman en route to Tel Aviv, Israel."
What was she going to do in Israel? Transfer?
Last i heard the U.S. was working with Jordan to have the girl brought back home. I think they should leave her there. This would give dumb mom/dad something to think about.
AMEN to that! (and evidently can't be bothered enough to care very much) I was thinking the same thing when I read the article. And btw, it was a bus station - not the airport. "On Sunday, they drove to a bus station for that trip, but the family didn't show up." Only then, did the girl's family call the friend's family and learn there was no trip.
And the girl was a National Honor Society member?? I was pleased when my daughter was inducted into that organization last year but now - not quite so sure. :o)
Did the article indicate how she got that airline ticket--(e.g. with her candy money) and I misssed that "minor" point?
This case, and the case of that kid from FL - Faris Hassan - who went to Iraq over Christmas make me wonder... why does a 16 year old have his/her passport in his/her possession?
I keep my kids passports locked up. I finally gave my oldest hers when she planned her Europe trip this summer.
I'm not sure if a 16 year old can get a passport without permission of a parent? I believe I had to sign to get my daughter's new passport when she was 17
'some sizable Islamic cultures in Michigan'
Per capita, Dearborn, MI is #1 in the U.S. of middle eastern people.
"On Sunday, they drove to a bus station for that trip, but the family didn't show up. Shawn Lester said she called them, learned there was no trip and brought her daughter home."
And DIDN'T confiscate the passport!!!
would not comment on the man's identity or background.
Jericho is on the "West Bank". He would most certainly be what they call, a "Palestinian".
Several years ago a "Palestinian" girl used the Internet to lure an Israeli teen to be murdered.
Decades ago a "Palestinian" packed the suitcase of a British girl, unknown to her, with explosives to blow up an airliner when she was coming to visit him.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but we don't need passports to visit Canada do we?
Did they start requiring passports to get into Canada already?
May not be in effect yet, but it is a new requirement to be instituted very soon.
This girl must have s$!t for brains.
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