By Dominic Abassi

Port Alberni parents investigated for tackling, hog-tying child luring suspect

Apr 13, 2018 | 9:47 PM

PORT ALBERNI — A couple says they have no regrets despite potentially facing criminal charges for the vigilante takedown of a man they claim was trying to have sex with their teenage daughter.

Port Alberni RCMP said they found a 28-year-old man injured and restrained at a home early Thursday afternoon after responding to a disturbance call.

The couple, who are not being identified to protect the girl’s identity, claimed the man thought he was coming to the home to have sex with their 13-year-old daughter. When he arrived, the girl’s mother, stepfather and a friend punched, tackled and zap strapped the man before calling 911.

The girl’s mother said she found messages from the man on her daughter’s phone and reported it to Mounties six weeks ago, but it did not stop the man from contacting her daughter.

Frustrated and “terrified,” she said they posed as her daughter, organized the meet up and then live streamed the incident on Facebook.

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The mother said she told RCMP about the impending meeting. “If they would’ve come with me they could have prevented it all. If I get charged I still feel I did the right thing.”

The girl’s stepfather said he’s “disgusted by the system,” after being detained and now the subject of a criminal investigation for assault and forcible confinement.

“(RCMP) came in and said ‘What about this guy’s rights?’ Well what about our daughter’s rights? She’s 13-years-old, she’s not going to protect herself from this guy…Shouldn’t a guy be able to protect his own family in his own house?”

In a statement Thursday, RCMP confirmed the man who was restrained at the house “is connected to a child luring investigation that began approximately five weeks ago.”

“Contacting RCMP was the right thing to do from the onset. Once that’s done, you need to leave it to investigators to do their job,” Cpl. Amelia Hayden said.

Hayden was asked why police didn’t go to the arranged meeting.

“(The girl’s mother) was directed not to make the meet happen…Anytime the public takes the law into their hands it can potentially jeopardize an ongoing investigation.

“This was an active, ongoing investigation since March. It remains so. The mother had been told several times to cease any conversation with the man in question,” Hayden said.

She said no charges have been recommended against anyone involved at this point.

“I hope that nobody else has to go through this and police find a better way of dealing with things,” the girl’s mother said.

— with files from David Wiwchar, CJAV-FM

dom@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @domabassi