Canada-wide warrant issued for man suspected in Calgary mall kidnapping

Police have issued Canada-wide arrest warrants looking for a convicted sex offender after a 10-year-old girl was taken Thursday night from a Calgary shopping centre.

Police are looking for John Francis Dionne, 43, of Linden, Alta. In October, RCMP issued a public warning after Dionne moved from Calgary to Linden, about 75 kilometres northeast of the city.

On Friday, Airdrie RCMP said a chance speeding ticket issued as a man was on his way out of Calgary may have stopped the kidnapping of the girl who was taken Thursday night from the Deerfoot Mall.

Calgary police are investigating after the victim was shopping at the Deerfoot Mall with her father and got separated from him. At around 6:30 p.m. a man posing as a police officer told the girl she was shoplifting and he wanted to speak with her.

When she told the man she did not want to go with him, he grabbed her and brought her to his vehicle.

On his way north, however, he was caught speeding by an RCMP officer.

"A regular traffic member conducted a traffic stop and provided him with a speeding ticket," said RCMP Const. Robert Frizzell.

"He saw the girl, didn't think much of it, just thought that this person had a young lady in the car; she didn't say anything, there wasn't visible signs of trauma or injury or crying or any marks."

The man was then given a speeding ticket and drove off.

"As best as we can guess he got spooked or scared and dropped the young lady off at the restaurant where she called us for help," said Frizzell.

Police were then called to a restaurant in Airdrie because the staff noticed the girl was visibly upset. She told them she had been abducted.

Shortly afterward, she was reunited with her parents.

Calgary police are investigating the abduction and are looking for a man driving a green Dodge Caravan with Alberta licence plate BBT 2981. He is 5-foot-11, 170 pounds, has blue eyes and brown hair.

They are also looking for more witnesses who saw the abduction.

The robbery unit is scheduled to speak about the kidnapping later this morning.

Frizzell described the victim as "very positive, very upbeat, a happy-go-lucky little 10-year old."

"It was just by sheer chance that this member doing a routine traffic stop (or) this story I'm pretty sure would have a very different ending."