Police halted a train late Friday night to intercept a California man accused of absconding with a 13-year-old Long Island girl he met on the Internet.
John Vertrees, 22, was hauled off a western-bound Amtrak train in Rochester after 11 p.m. and was charged with unlawful imprisonment, police said.
The girl also was taken into custody, and she was reunited with her family Saturday morning, they said.
Vertrees, of Sacramento, Calif., traveled to Rocky Point and climbed into the girl’s bedroom window to spend a few hours with her on Wednesday, Suffolk County police said.
The girl used the window to slip out of her house at 4 a.m. Friday and left with Vertrees in a taxi, investigators said.
Suffolk police said they used phone and computer records to identify a suspect. Investigators said they believed Vertrees was headed back to California with the girl.
Vertrees could face additional charges in Suffolk County, police said.
Vertrees was in custody in Rochester on Saturday. It was unclear whether he had a lawyer. There was no telephone listing for him in Sacramento or the surrounding areas.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.