By Sarah Lombardo
A chance call from a cab company and a mother's hunch prevented what could have been a tragic end to an Internet romance for a 17-year-old Saratoga girl. The romance began in an America Online chatroom, but ended in a cab pulling away from a local high school with the girl inside and on her way to the airport for what police think was a flight to Cleveland.
The girl's mother, who asked that her name not be used, had received a call from a cab company earlier in the morning confirming the time and pickup location. At the time, the mother dismissed the call as a wrong number. But as the morning wore on, she reconsidered. "I just had that feeling, and a flag went up and I thought, 'I'm going to just swing around to the school,' " she said.
She got to the school just in time to see the cab pull away. The woman flagged down the cab and brought her daughter home.
"I was scared to death and very confused," the woman said. "I called the school's counselor immediately and asked who I should call."
The woman said she and her husband had always encouraged their daughter to become familiar with and work on the family's computer, but said she'd warn other parents to be aware of who their children are communicating with online.
"It goes along with all the other things girls have to watch out for," she said. "They need to know all the possibilities that could happen."
Police said the incident is an example of the need for discussion between parents and their children about the dangers of such relationships.
"[The Internet] is new for all of us, but as with anything, you have to have talks with your children and be a part of their lives," said Santa Clara County Deputy Larry McIntyre, the officer who took the report on the incident. "You have to have communication."
The woman said the man who sent her daughter the plane ticket has not been found, but she has notified police and the family has hired an investigator. "This guy is a real sick guy," she said. "It's not over yet. The guy is still out there."
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This article appeared in the Saratoga News, April 30, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.