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September 2, 2010
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Man arrested for abducting girl
Published December 21, 2005
SOCIAL CIRCLE — A man who allegedly lured a 16-year-old girl here by posing as a counselor in a Christian chat room was arrested in his Hickory Drive home Thursday after police said he picked her up in her Maryland hometown.
Police said Mack G. Harris Sr., 63, of 137 Hickory Drive in Social Circle, planned on making the girl his “wife” after bringing her to his home.
Social Circle Public Safety officials, working with the Cecil County [Maryland] Sheriff’s Office, Maryland State Police and FBI field offices in Atlanta and Baltimore, were able to put an end Thursday to the abduction that began in Conowingo, Md, officials said.
SCPS Chief Jeff Johnson said the girl left Maryland willingly with Harris, culminating an online affair that began in June 2005 when he approached her in a Christian Internet chat room as a “counselor.” Harris apparently courted the girl online at first, then by phone until he first met physically with her in November, Johnson said.
Harris then returned to the area in last week to bring her home as his “wife,” Johnson said.
“She was writing in her diary [about him,]” Johnson said. “She was very smitten with him. He manipulated her a lot. It appears he really preyed on her need for attention and her own insecurities.”
Harris, who has no previous criminal record, runs a ministry police say they believe targets young people.
Police used cell phone technology to track the two as they returned from Maryland to Georgia. SCPS officers placed Harris’ Hickory Drive residence under surveillance and were able to take both parties into custody within 30 minutes of their arrival in the city, law enforcement officials said.
Harris is currently in the Walton County Detention Center charged with interstate interference with child custody and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Charges are pending in Maryland and more are possible in Georgia and Virginia following completion of the investigation.
The girl has since been returned to her family in Maryland through the cooperation of the SCPS and FBI Victim Services, officials said.
Johnson said he wants to remind parents to always pay attention to children’s activities on the Internet.
“Children should be taught never to trust a person met online,” Johnson said. “Predators often take advantage of people by learning their weaknesses and using them against them. A teen with a poor self image or problems at home is especially vulnerable to this type of activity.
“Parents might want to consider keeping Internet-ready computers in a public area of the home and closely monitoring anything they find to be secretive or suspicious.”
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