A 19-year-old man from St. Louis, Sask. is facing several charges in connection with the abduction of an eight-year-old girl in Prince Albert on Tuesday night.
The Prince Albert Police Service said Wednesday it is charging Jarrod John Charles with sexual assault, kidnapping, abduction, forcible confinement, abandoning a child, sexual interference, criminal negligence and invitation to sexual touching.
The incident unfolded on Tuesday at around 3:30 p.m. Police received a call from a family reporting that their eight-year-old daughter was missing.
An Amber Alert was activated before the girl was safely found at approximately 8:40 p.m., police said.
Police said the charges against Charles are the result of an “extensive investigation” involving numerous parties.
He is expected to make his first court appearance in Prince Albert Provincial Court on Thursday.
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Charles was previously charged in the abduction of two boys that was also the subject of an Amber Alert last fall but those charges were stayed, court documents showed.
There was no evidence that Charles intended to take the children from their parents, said Crown prosecutor Luke Coupal.
Charles is on probation after he pleaded guilty to sexual interference.
Last December, he was sentenced to three-and-a-half months time served, as well as three years of probation in connection with a case that involved a nine-year-old girl.
Coupal noted that sexual interference “spans a spectrum of everything from possibly a kiss that has a sexual nature right up to violent sexual assaults, and the judge has to determine… the appropriate sentence based on the facts.”
He did not provide further details.
Charles was told to register with the National Sexual Offender Registry.
He was also ordered to obtain sexual offender counselling and was instructed not to be alone with children under 16 years old, nor to be in pools or parks unless he was with an adult who knew about his conviction.
Charles was also told not to use social media to communicate with anyone under 16.
- With files from Jennifer Graham and Ken Trimble at The Canadian Press
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