Girl, 16, flies to Middle East to visit man she met online

**Autumn2009** · 06-20-06, 02:48 PM

Hope this isn't a repost!

Girl, 16, flies to Middle East to visit man she met online
By DAVID N. GOODMAN
Associated Press

DETROIT - A 16-year-old honor student from Michigan tricked her parents into getting her a passport and then flew off to the Mideast to be with a West Bank man she met on MySpace.com, authorities say.

U.S. officials in Jordan persuaded her to turn around and go home before she reached the West Bank. She was on her way home Friday.

Katherine Lester is a straight-A student and student council member, her father said.

"She's a good girl," Terry Lester said. "Never had a problem with her."

MySpace.com is a social networking Web site with more than 72 million members that lets users post photos, blogs and journals. There have been scattered accounts of sexual predators targeting minors they met through the site.

Katherine Lester disappeared Monday after talking her family into getting her a passport by saying she was going to Canada with friends, sheriff's officials said. She apparently planned to visit a man whose MySpace account describes him as a 25-year-old from Jericho, Undersheriff James Jashinske said.

The FBI traced the teenager to a Wednesday flight from New York's Kennedy Airport to Tel Aviv, Israel. At a scheduled stop in Amman, Jordan, U.S. officials persuaded her to return home, FBI agent Robert Beeckman said.

It was not immediately known when she would arrive back in the United States. Terry Lester said the family was keeping details of the return private.

Katherine Lester apparently contacted the man from Jericho about three months ago, Jashinske said. Jericho, a city of 17,000, is a relatively calm area of the volatile West Bank.

MySpace forbids youngsters 13 and under from joining and provides special protections for those 14 and 15 - only people on their list of friends can view their profiles. Older users also have the option of restricting certain personal data so it can be seen only by people they have identified as friends.

Shawn Lester told The Saginaw News that her daughter has "never given me a day's trouble. ... I just don't understand with all these new laws protecting America how a 16-year-old kid could get out of the country."

She said her daughter never had a boyfriend and seemed to be content with that.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said he could say little about the girl because of privacy rules.

Katherine Lester and her mother live in Gilford, a village about 80 miles north of Detroit in Michigan's agricultural Thumb region. Her father lives in Grand Blanc Township.

The age of consent in Michigan is 16; Katherine turns 17 on June 21.

"I'll be honest with you, we don't know if a crime's been committed," Jashinske said Friday.

http://www.theeagle.com/stories/0610...0060610016.php

______

Seriously, some people are so dumb its amazing they breath and walk. I wish my parents were so oblivious, growing up would have been a hell of a lot more fun.

**sflcop** · 06-20-06, 03:19 PM

...and how did she get the money for this trip?

**TheOldRhino** · 06-20-06, 04:52 PM

Okay, let's review:

-A minor
-Presumably older male
-Met on myspace- reknown for it's sexual predators
-and in the middle east, where the US is waging war, in a region ripe with political and religious turmoil.

What part of any of this sounds like a good idea? She's gotta be the dumbest A student I ever seen.

**Autumn2009** · 06-20-06, 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by Centurion44

Okay, let's review:

-A minor
-Presumably older male
-Met on myspace- reknown for it's sexual predators
-and in the middle east, where the US is waging war, in a region ripe with political and religious turmoil.

What part of any of this sounds like a good idea? She's gotta be the dumbest A student I ever seen.

It goes to prove being an A student means shit.

**jmur5074** · 06-20-06, 05:01 PM

She may be smart (A student) but she has NO common sense.

I'd rather have an inkling of common sense than be a genius any day of the week.

**Autumn2009** · 06-20-06, 05:03 PM

Originally Posted by jmur5074

I'd rather have an inkling of common sense than be a genius any day of the week.

So would I, any day...

**conalabu** · 06-20-06, 05:15 PM

Anyone know her screen name? uhhhh, never mind...

**Sapper_132** · 06-20-06, 05:27 PM

RECAP-

Where did she get the money?

How did she get out of the Country without an adult?

**Growler** · 06-20-06, 06:03 PM

Hmm, let's see if I have this right? Juvenile tells parents that she was going to with some friends to Canada but yet not one parent called the others of whom she was traveling with??? Riiiiiight...
Hey Mom, can I have 800.00 for some uh, uh, uh jeans? Yeah jeans Mom.

**Ducky** · 06-20-06, 06:14 PM

Actually, I should think flights to the middle east would be pretty damn cheap right about now.

katiemh · 06-20-06, 06:23 PM

Originally Posted by Ducky

Actually, I should think flights to the middle east would be pretty damn cheap right about now.

I think they're actually like $1500. That's like 3 pairs of jeans!

**Big Sexy** · 06-20-06, 06:59 PM

katiemh · 06-20-06, 07:15 PM

Originally Posted by Post#83Chief

Shawn Lester told The Saginaw News " I just don't understand with all these new laws protecting America how a 16-year-old kid could get out of the country."

I just don't understand how with such great parenting a 16-year-old kid could get out of the country.

My mom practically had a GPS monitor up my ass... she would've known something was suspicious long before I took a freakin' flight to Tel Aviv.

**chris2001** · 06-20-06, 07:29 PM

Ditto Katie. I understand that after a person is 16 they do not have to be chauffered but at the same time they still have to have a guardian contact at the end of the plane I would think.

**Big Sexy** · 06-20-06, 07:37 PM

**Autumn2009** · 06-23-06, 03:41 PM

Jun 23, 11:57 AM EDT

Michigan teen says she will marry West Bank man she met on Web

GILFORD, Mich. (AP) -- A teenager who flew to the Middle East to be with a man she met on MySpace.com said Friday that she intends to marry him.

"I love him very much," 17-year-old Katherine Lester said of Abdullah Jimzawi, a 20-year-old high school dropout who lives with his parents in the West Bank.

Lester, of Gilford, appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" with her father and stepmother. Jimzawi also spoke with ABC during a taped portion of the segment, describing how the pair "can't live without each other."

After hearing what Jimzawi said, Lester began weeping.

"It's true," she said. "I love you. That's all I can say."

Lester, who turned 17 on Wednesday, was en route to a Tel Aviv, Israel, airport earlier this month when she was intercepted in Amman, Jordan, by U.S. authorities who seized her passport and put her on a flight back to the United States.

Jimzawi, in a recent interview with The Associated Press, said the two planned to marry and she planned to convert to Islam. Lester, a Christian, declined to say Friday whether she intended to convert.

The two have resumed communication online since Lester returned home without ever meeting him.

"Our initial reaction was to isolate her, to lock her up and just keep her safe here in America," said her father, Terry Lester. "But that's unrealistic because you can see the love they have for each other."

Tuscola County authorities filed a runaway juvenile petition against Lester earlier this week, and a judge ordered her to give up her passport and undergo counseling. If the judge finds that Lester was a runaway, she could be placed under court supervision until she turns 18.

Gilford is a village in Michigan's agricultural Thumb region, about 80 miles north of Detroit.

**TXCharlie** · 06-23-06, 03:49 PM

Originally Posted by Post#83Chief

Michigan teen says she will marry West Bank man she met on Web

What an idiot - Has anyone told her that women are just posessions to some of those people? Once she gets in, she may never be able to get out - And if she tries to get out or goes against his orders, that may cause the man to loose face, which gives him justification to kill her under some sects.

Not saying that he's a member of one of these, but it's a distinct possibility.

**Julie** · 06-23-06, 04:55 PM

I believe the ads are saying over a grand to fly , but no matter what the cost , how could she even afford it in the first place .

The parents need a wake up call , and probaly because she gets good grades , they have no clue what else she does or has ever done .

I also have to wonder how come no one until she got to Jordan questioned her travel plans , like at airport , where she had to go to the desk to get ticket and show i.d. with d.o.b. on it , through checkpoints etc ...

I agree with everyone ... common sense beats booksmart every single time .

Julie

**Detective7653** · 06-23-06, 04:59 PM

Can you imagine if she has no commom since now, Man I want to met her in a bar when she is 21.

**Julie** · 06-23-06, 05:02 PM

[QUOTE]'
Jimzawi, in an interview with The Associated Press, said he loves the girl and the two had planned to marry. She was to convert to Islam, he said.
The couple still speak to each other at least five hours a day via Internet phone calls, Jimzawi said.
QUOTE]

------------

Parents are stilllllllllll allowing her on the computer or phone ?? oh not in my house would this happen ...

Shed be cleaning the whole house with a toothbrush and if she still had too much time on her hands and hormones in a rage , i have a pair of scissors and a few acres that need cutting and these things do work ...lol... shed be wishing for bootcamp to be able to rest ... lol

Julie