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CANADA.com MONTREAL A 13-year-old Montreal girl reported missing on Friday was found in a downtown Montreal hotel Saturday morning with a 31-year-old Belgian man she had met online, police said Saturday. Although the girl appeared unharmed, she was taken to hospital to be examined, police said. The man was arrested and is being held in a detention centre until he appears in court Monday afternoon, said Const. Raphael Bergeron. The girl's parents reported her missing to police Friday evening, Bergeron said. Police interviewed the parents and learned the girl spent much of her time online. Montreal police investigators specializing in computer crimes searched her computer's hard drive for evidence, and discovered hundreds of e-mails exchanged between the girl and the man. After further investigation, police learned the man had travelled to Canada from Belgium and had been in Montreal since Wednesday, Bergeron said. Police sent out pictures of both the man and the victim to all neighbourhood police stations in Montreal and surrounding areas Friday night. Following an exhaustive search of Montreal hotels, the man was finally found with the girl early Saturday at the Hotel Europeene on St. Hubert St., near the central bus station, police said. "It was the love of her life, so she wasn't too happy for us to be there," a Montreal police officer told the Agence France-Presse news service. The Belgian man, whose name has not been made public, will probably be charged with luring a minor, and might also face charges of kidnapping or assault, police said. Because the girl is a minor, it's an immediate criminal infraction, even if she was not brought to the hotel against her will, Const. Olivier Lapointe told Radio-Canada on Saturday. The federal judicial police of Liege, Belgium, were notified of the situation and have searched the homes of both the suspect and his parents for evidence, Bergeron said. Andre Zacharakis, owner of Hotel Montreal Centrale, also on St. Hubert St., said hotels in the area should be more careful. "If a man comes in here with a girl, I always ask for identification to make sure they're family. I'll even call DPJ if I'm suspicious," Zacharakis said, referring to the Directeur de la protection de la jeunesse, or youth protection services. "I'm going to train my employees to be even more careful from now on," he added.
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