Update - Missing UK Schoolgirl 'Unharmed'. Marine with her calls FBI...

[Pert_UK]

"The family of a former US marine believed to have run off with a 12-year-old British girl he met over the internet says she is "fine" and "unharmed".

Toby Studabaker's brother Leo said he had called the family home in Michigan...Mr Studabaker is refusing to reveal his location, but is talking to the FBI about returning to the US.

...Sherry Studabaker told the BBC she had taken the call and said her brother-in-law sounded "scared and confused and mad" about what had happened.

"Shevaun is fine, she is not hurt, she is unharmed," she said.

"He didn't give me any sense of if she was with him or where she was at that time."

The former marine said he had been given a letter by Shevaun clearing him of any wrongdoing...

"He was very, very mad about that (her lying about her age)...He is sorry for all this happening," said Mrs Studabaker.

He added that there was "another reason" why she had run away.

...US police told the BBC they had twice investigated Mr Studabaker over allegations of improper behaviour against a child - all inquiries were later dropped.

One investigation involved the "improper touching" of a 12-year-old girl.

Mr Studabaker was arrested, but the prosecutors' office cleared him of all charges."

This just gets weirder and weirder....OK, if I was in his shoes and with his record I would be panicking now, but why wouldn't he say whether she was with him, and wouldn't you want to make 100% sure that she was safe just to avoid any possible charges against you???

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/3069289.stm

[Catherine Vincent]

1. Yeah, something's not right.

He was TWICE investigated for being with underage girls? I think he needs to stay away from meeting women on the internet.

[Pert_UK]

2. More info from the Guardian...+ story is on CNN too.

"Studabaker's family have said that he believed her to be older. According to his brother Leo, he had told them that he was going to Europe to meet a 19-year-old girl and had even talked of marriage and children.

"If he had known she wasn't the age she said she was, he wouldn't have agreed to meet her," he said.

However, he also confirmed that Studabaker had previously been acquitted of allegations of sexual assault involving an underage girl.

"I guess the judge decided that the girls weren't exactly telling the truth, or it was never proven," he told CNN. "

So...that's not the most ringing endorsement of innocence from the guy's brother, is it? Plus, wouldn't you want to find out the result of your brother's trial?

It does still sound to me like this guy was duped by the girl, but given his record it's all a bit worrying.

"The home secretary, David Blunkett, today told parliament that Shevaun's case proved the need for tough action against "grooming" - adults using the internet to speak to and arrange meetings with children."

Hmmmmmm.....sounds like even the Home Secretary is saying "guilty" up front - no wonder the guy wants help from the FBI.

Full story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,998667,00.html

[Augspies]

3. Sorry, I don't care if you're legally blind

s twelve year old girl does not look, act, or think like a nineteen year old no matter how many hormones she's been taking.

This guy is full of shit.

Jeremy

[Pert_UK]

4. The Guardian is going to town on this guy....

"The clinical ease with which the decorated Afghan veteran co-ordinated his secret tryst with the Lancashire schoolgirl chimed with former friends from the 4th expeditionary brigade, an anti-terrorist unit which trained Mr Studabaker in North Carolina.

But his family, who still live in the small-town America of Constantine, Michigan, where he was raised, protested that he was a "safe guy", who may have been deceived by an internet Lolita. They dismissed his two previous sex charges involving minors, later dropped for lack of evidence, as unfounded.

Police are meanwhile concerned about a third, fundamentalist religious side to the character of the 31-year-old, who posted messages on an internet noticeboard three months ago about his instructions from God...

Internet postings to a US alumni website from the ex-marine, who was discharged on June 30 with a shoulder injury, show that he enlisted for a three-year term for reasons he "would rather not discuss." He joined up after the death of his wife and in the aftermath of the collapse of the sex prosecutions in Michigan.

One of these centred on claims by a 12-year-old that Mr Studabaker had touched her breasts. The other was an allegation that he had offered a nine-year-old girl a "sex lotion." "

And there's still no sign of them, despite the guy ringing home and contacting the FBI.

Full story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/child/story/0,7369,998807,00.html

[Kellanved]

5. Runaway Ex-Marine Arrested in Germany

http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3100088

LONDON (Reuters) - A former U.S. Marine who ran away to France with a 12-year-old British schoolgirl he met on the Internet has been arrested in Germany, British police said Wednesday.

Police launched an international hunt for Shevaun Pennington after she ran away with 31-year-old Toby Studabaker Saturday.

"Greater Manchester Police, with the support of German authorities and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have now arrested Toby Studabaker in Frankfurt, Germany," a police spokeswoman said. She gave no further details.

[BiggJawn]

6. "Coach Bootie, let's talk about your Record..."

"M'RECORD???? F'what th' HAY-ell y'wanna go and bring DAT up agin?? I done TOLL de jedge she looked 17, how d'hell was AH sposed t'know she wuz only tirteen???? I done PAID muh debt t'sciety, sucka!"

Basketball Jones

This is one seriously messed up dude. "Fool me once...."
He's either a real Ped or the most CLULESS Mo-Fo ever pulled a breath...