Prince Albert police say abducted 8-year-old girl found on farm near city

Police in Prince Albert, Sask., say a missing eight-year-old girl was located on a rural property near the city last week.

The girl went missing from a schoolyard on the afternoon of July 4. Her disappearance triggered an Amber Alert.

After the alert was sent out, a nearby landowner phoned police, saying that the girl had walked onto his property.

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Jarrod John Charles, 19, was arrested without incident later that night at a local business. He was later charged with abduction, kidnapping, abandoning a child, criminal negligence, forcible confinement, sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching.

Charles made his first court appearance in Prince Albert provincial court on Thursday. He was remanded into custody.

Police investigation

As soon as police arrived at the farmyard, they immediately took the girl to hospital for an examination.

Meanwhile, conservation officers from the Ministry of Environment used a tracking dog to backtrack the girl's footprints to a wooded area, where they believe she was dropped off.

"All I can say is she's an intelligent, happy young girl and we're fortunate to see she's with her family," said police Chief Troy Cooper.

According to police, the girl had been playing alone in a playground in the Crescent Acres area, near cole Vickers School, when a man showed up and remained there for about 15 minutes.

Police said the girl was seen leaving the playground, and the man followed her to the schoolyard and started speaking to her.

She was grabbed and placed in the back seat of his car. He then climbed into the front of the vehicle and drove away from the school, police said.

Amber Alert

As soon as police heardthe girl was missing, officers managed to get surveillance video of the alleged abduction from cameras attached to the school.

They managed to isolate screen shots of the suspect as well as the car he was driving, and sent them to the RCMP and other nearby police forces.

"I think our officers acted very professionally and followed policy very closely in a timely way," said Chief Cooper. "We applied all the resources possible."

Once the Amber Alert was issued, a Facebook post from Prince Albert police was seen two million times double the population of Saskatchewan.

"I think what I've learned from it is that we have a caring community that we can access outside an Amber Alert more often," he said. "It just showed the value of reaching out to the community."

Record of sexual assault

In September 2016, another Amber Alert involving Charles was issued after two young boys were taken from the northern community of La Ronge, Sask.

At the time, police said Charles had been spotted walking with the boys in the town shortly before their disappearance.

The boys were eventually found at a home in St. Louis and returned to their families. They weren't harmed.

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Charles was charged with two counts of abduction of a child and two counts of breaching an undertaking. In December, the abduction charges were dropped by the Crown after prosecutors further examined the evidence.

At that same court appearance, Charles was sentenced for a June 28, 2016, sexual assault in St. Louis. The victim was a nine-year-old girl from the community. He received a 3-month sentence, which he got credit for as time served, and three years' probation. He was ordered to stay away from children under 16.

Charles is on the National Sex Offender Registry.