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Man sent back to U.S. after being found with missing teen in West Vancouver

A 15-year-old girl, missing from Abbotsford for six days, was spotted in the company of a U.S. man, by an alert citizen in West Van.
Abbotsford police car
Abbotsford Police report the missing 15-year-old girl was located Wednesday, and a U.S. man was taken into custody.

A 45-year-old man from the U.S. has been sent back to the States and told not to come back to Canada after being found Wednesday (May 11) with a 15-year-old girl who had been missing for six days.

An alert citizen in West Vancouver led police to the teen, who had been missing from Abbotsford for almost a week.

Abbotsford Police said a local citizen saw the missing teen with American Daniel Ames, 45, in a Horseshoe Bay coffee shop Wednesday afternoon and called 911.

According to West Vancouver police, the citizen saw the teen with the older man in the 6300 block of Bay Street in Horseshoe Bay, and recognized them from media reports. West Vancouver Police Department officers confirmed their identities and detained both parties. Abbotsford Police then attended the scene and Ames was taken into custody.

Earlier, Abbotsford Police had put out a statement seeking the public’s help in finding the missing girl, who had last been seen on the morning of May 6 in the 32600 block of Rossland Place in Abbotsford.

Police had described the teen’s disappearance as out of character, and said that she may be in the company of Ames, a man in his 40s, in the Lower Mainland.

On Thursday, Const. Paul Walker of the Abbotsford Police Department said after reviewing the evidence, officers decided not to recommend criminal charges against Ames. Ames "has been released from police custody and returned to the United States and will not be permitted re-entry into Canada," said Walker.

Walker credited the alert citizen for safely returning the teen to her family.

jseyd@nsnews.com

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