Canadian man who lured local girl is arrested

Historic City News has learned that a 12-year-old St Johns County girl, and her parents, will sleep better, and safer, tonight; after the arrest of a 41-year-old Canadian man who investigators say attempted to lure the girl away from her home using the Internet.

St Johns County Sheriff’s Office Cybercrimes Detective, Steve Gazdick, was contacted by the juvenile girl’s parents, after her mother discovered copies of inappropriate e-mails. Gazdick began the initial investigation that resulted in the identification of the source of the communications.

Yesterday, Daniel Russell Rand, who resides in Medicine Hat, Alberta Canada, was taken into custody by members of the Southern Alberta Internet Child Exploitation team; charged with two-counts of child luring, possession of child pornography, and accessing child pornography over the Internet.

Cst. Adam Johnston, a spokesman for the Southern Internet Child Exploitation Unit, told reporters that the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team members, with assistance from the Medicine Hat Police Service and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, used the information supplied by the St Johns County Sheriff’s Office to develop the case.

The arrest, made by Gazdick’s Canadian counterparts, came after they obtained sufficient additional evidence to prove Rand had been engaged in inappropriate e-mail communications with the local girl.