Man Dressed as Santa Clause Charged with Kidnapping

@Jshean20 (14348)
Canada
December 26, 2006 10:00pm CST
A man dressed up as Santa Clause was charged with kidnapping after luring an 8 year old girl over to his motorcycle to see a stuffed rudolph that was in his side car. Luckily the father followed the kidnapper and "Santa" eventually pulled over and gave her back. Source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Santa_Claus_Kidnapping.html Do these kinds of instances make you think twice about allowing your kids to believe in Santa Clause? Have you heard of similar situations where the person played Santa Clause to help him with his dirty work? Unfortunately there are people who will take advantage of the whole Santa Clause thing to lure children. You know how fascinated kids are with Santa Clause..it would seem like an easy way of fooling children.
9 people like this
52 responses
• United States
27 Dec 06
I am so happy the girl is safe. Thank you God. I think child preditors are coming up with many different ways now to come up with victims, since some of their usual methods have been exposed and we are now warning our children about them. Yes if my kids were small, I would think twice about leading them to believe in "all" Santa's...or Easter Bunnies...or what have you. I don't know how we are able to protect today's children without completely ruining their childhood and making them suspicious of everyone around them. As long as their are preditors out on the streets, the problem will only continue. It is so sad.
1 person likes this
@Jshean20 (14348)
• Canada
27 Dec 06
thanks to you both
@xXmeganxX (4420)
27 Dec 06
that's scary and kids now love santa claus as much as they love xmas, that will give a bad sign towards santa i think and im a bit worried about my child going anywhere near any santa now i will have second thoughts :( where was this by the way?
1 person likes this
• United States
27 Dec 06
Sadly, we have to warn our kids that ANYONE could abuse them. But I wouldn't ban Santa because of this, Santa Claus is still an important symbol of generosity, and I don't see people stopping the tradition. Too scary, I hope that guy rots in prison, he's probably already abused kids.
@Jshean20 (14348)
• Canada
27 Dec 06
yeah I wouldn't doubt it.
• United States
27 Dec 06
I haven't heard of such a thing. It is so scary. One must watch out for their children much more carefully then they did gererations ago.
1 person likes this
@Jshean20 (14348)
• Canada
27 Dec 06
thank you
@arlena040 (252)
• United States
27 Dec 06
its a sad day when a kid needs to be told to not trust santa clause but unfornately as parents we must teach our kids to not be so trusting even of santa clause.
@Jshean20 (14348)
• Canada
27 Dec 06
it's very sad
@natuser28 (907)
• United States
27 Dec 06
Now why am i not surpise. The news stations here in L.A. did an undercover investagation to see if employers screen their santas when hiring. The news station got a preten santa and also post a fake child molesting charge on records just to see if it comes up when they investigate. Guess what happen? The santa records when clean.
1 person likes this
@Jshean20 (14348)
• Canada
27 Dec 06
scary
@bimmer999 (1158)
• Philippines
27 Dec 06
wow thats gotta ruin santa's reputation yeah? anyway shame on the man for using santa claus to commit crimes serves him right to be caught hehe
1 person likes this
@Jshean20 (14348)
• Canada
27 Dec 06
thank you
@annieroos (1845)
• United States
27 Dec 06
That is to bad that something like that has to happen.. this is a crazy world we live in...And children are so innocent that a perv..would use somthing so innocent as santa to lure this little girl over.. It seems like it would scar her for life.. seeing santa would scare her, how sad.. I hope it doesn't And im sure glad the dad followed and was able to catch up.
@Jshean20 (14348)
• Canada
27 Dec 06
thank you
@cyfernet (2383)
• United States
27 Dec 06
the whole scene must have looked very funny with santa riding a motorcycle! The girl should have understood that santa never comes in a motorcycle....anyways the girl was lucky as her father rescued her
@Jshean20 (14348)
• Canada
27 Dec 06
she's very lucky
• United States
27 Dec 06
It was a good thing the father caught up with him. I don't think that I would make my children stop believing but you never know so keep a close eye on your kids and never let them be alone with anyone you don't know. I just don't get these guys who do this to little girls or boys. It just makes me sick.
@Jshean20 (14348)
• Canada
27 Dec 06
yeah it's gross
@Khangura (924)
• Canada
28 Dec 06
"First Off.. I wanted to wish all of you fans of “Russian Women the Real Truth” a Safe, Wonderful, Warm and Merry Christmas! Also we FINALLY have more then enough snow in Siberia to go around for all of you wanting your own Little White Christmas too! Keep in mind that in Russia they don’t celebrate Christmas until January 7th because they base it off of the Old Orthodox Calendar. But if you were here today you would still be surprised at just how many of them knew that “our” Christmas was today and I certainly got more then my share of phone calls, text messages and emails to prove it. And yes if feels great.. So on this very special day I’d like to make a small request to all of you readers. Please take a minute in silence to wish all of these ladies here a Great Christmas.. It’s great to send good energy their way because they certainly deserve it and more then a few of them may be facing various challenges right now. Also since this blog is read by so many of the ladies you’ve seen photos of please be sure to wish all of them a Happy Holidays as well on the comments section below too! And to cap it all off.. Here is a photo of two fine young ladies who were at a local party showing off their (ahem) “Holiday Cheer”. " I heard about this. Its very sad that theirs people like this in the world. A South Carolina man who dressed as Santa Claus was arrested after he allegedly tried to take an 8-year-old girl for a motorcycle ride without her parent's permission. According to officials, John Michael Barton said he was in "Santa mode" when the incident occurred and that he was sorry for his actions. Police in Columbia, S.C., say 55-year-old Braton was wearing a Santa suit when he took off on his motorcycle from a gas station with the girl. The girl's father followed Barton, reaching speeds of up to 80 m.p.h. and flashing his headlights repeatedly, police said. Barton eventually stopped at a parking lot and the father reclaimed his daughter, who was not injured, police told the AP. Barton was arrested later Sunday at a nearby bar, police said. Lexington County Sheriff James Metts noted that Barton had been playing Santa at various locations around the city and had previously given several children rides on his motorcycle with their parents' permission. During his bail hearing on Monday, Barton apologized for the incident. He has been released at a $100,000 bond, but still faces the kidnapping charge. A man dressed as Santa Claus lured an 8-year-old girl onto his motorcycle and drove away, and her father chased him until he pulled over and gave her back, authorities said. The man, John Michael Barton, 55, was charged with kidnapping, police said. He was being held in jail Monday night on $100,000 bond. The girl, of Augusta, Ga., and her family stopped at a convenience store off Interstate 20 on Sunday night when they noticed Barton, dressed in a Santa Claus suit, refueling his motorcycle, police said. Parents told police that Barton asked the children to come over and look at a stuffed Rudolph he had in his sidecar. Then, parents saw Barton driving away with their 8-year-old girl, authorities said. The girl's father followed Barton, reaching speeds up to 80 mph and flashing his headlights repeatedly, police said. Barton eventually stopped at a parking lot and the father picked up the girl, who was not injured. Barton was arrested later Sunday when police found him hiding in a utility room at a nearby bar, authorities said. Barton had been portraying Santa Claus for several weeks and had given rides to other children in the area and had posed for photographs with children by his motorcycle, Sheriff James Metts said in a release. Barton did not have an attorney at a bond hearing on Monday, said Lexington County sheriff's spokesman John Allard. A call to the Lexington County public defender's office was not immediately returned. A charge of kidnapping carries a maximum sentence of 30 years
@jal1948 (1359)
• India
27 Dec 06
who knows maybe he was just taking the kid for a ride in good faith,we are so distrusting of ourselves and others.
@Jshean20 (14348)
• Canada
28 Dec 06
thank you
@djshocker (400)
• United States
27 Dec 06
Wow! I can't believe that someone would sink so low just to do something like that. Some people these days are just so dumb it scares me.
@Jshean20 (14348)
• Canada
3 Jan 07
thank you
@Melizzy (1381)
• United States
27 Dec 06
I saw this story as well. How sad is it that you dress up as something all kids trust and then abuse it? This crime is the absolute worst betrayal of trust. This guy won't last long in prison.
@Melizzy (1381)
• United States
27 Dec 06
Read the book FISH by TJ Parsell. It's a true life story of being put in jail. He was not a rapist or molester, but he got raped plenty of times. There is a pecking order in jaqil and rapists and child molesters are at the bottom of the barrel.
@Jshean20 (14348)
• Canada
28 Dec 06
thanks guys
@DigWeed (225)
• Romania
27 Dec 06
A South Carolina man who dressed as Santa Claus was arrested after he ... He has been released at a $100000 bond, but still faces the kidnapping charge
@Jshean20 (14348)
• Canada
1 Jan 07
thanks
@Sir_bobby88 (8231)
• Singapore
31 Dec 06
It is sad to hear that people using santa claus name to do evil things , i wonder if such cases piled up who will still celebrates festival ....
@Lydia1901 (16351)
• United States
3 Jan 07
I agree, we should be careful with anybody that's wearing Santa Clause's suit. You never know who's underneath those clothing.
• United States
27 Dec 06
This doesn't change anything for me. If it wasn't santa clause. Then it would be a clown, or a balloon guy, or whatever happens to be trendy and catch the childs attention. They do this on purpose so if Santa wasn't popular they would just pick the next best thing.
@Jshean20 (14348)
• Canada
27 Dec 06
that's a good point.
• United States
28 Dec 06
it is just horrible how people dress up like santa clause and try and kidnap them this is why im very afraid to let my kids near santa because it could be a trick their are sick people out their that make you very hesitant.kids love santa so they do not know that he would do things like this.it does make me think twice.
@missyd79 (3438)
• United States
1 Jan 07
I wouldn't want my son to lose the imagine of santa because of sick people out there. And that is what they are just sick and they will use anything to carry out there dirty work.
• United States
27 Dec 06
this is horrible why would sombody do that
@Jshean20 (14348)
• Canada
27 Dec 06
things like this happen every day unfortunately.