A 14 year old girl who had been missing since the 2nd of January has been found in the company of an 18 year old man.
The 14 year old girl from Chiang Rai’s Phan District was reported missing by her parents earlier this month. Police say that she was found in an apartment in Chiang Mai’s Sansai sub-district on Saturday in the company of an 18 year old man.
According to authorities a woman had met the missing girl on Facebook a while back and had begun chatting. According to the woman, her 18 year old nephew also began chatting with the girl online and invited her to visit him in Chiang Mai. The woman claims that the girl decided on her own accord to come to Chiang Mai by songtaew and her nephew cycled the four kilometres to the songtaew terminal to pick her up on the 13th January. It is still currently unknown where she was for the period between her disappearance and when she arrived in Chiang Mai. The man lived with his grandmother who was, according to this aunt, confused why the girl was here and tried to get the girl to go home. The girl allegedly refused to go home or share her parents’ contact details with the grandmother, who then had to allow the girl to stay at her house.
The 18 year old, nicknamed Bass, is intellectually challenged, said the aunt and had never caused any problems.
Bass admitted to police that he had seen her on his aunt’s Facebook page and looked her up on one of the online dating platforms. The two chatted for around four months before he invited her to visit. He said that while he attempted to have sexual relations with the girl, he was unsuccessful and did not force her in any way and that no harm was done to her.
Chiang Mai police say that they are sharing this story with the public as a cautionary tale.
“There are many ill-intentioned people online these days and we urge parents to be careful and the public to be wary,” said a police spokesperson.
The 14 year old girl is currently undergoing physical examination at a hospital and police say that they will make an arrest shortly of the man on charges of sexual relations with a minor.
