Surprise! A pedo at the family resort!

[Dakota Valkyrie]

The York-Poquoson Sheriff's Office is asking for help locating a man who is believed to have sexually assaulted a child at Great Wolf Lodge Thursday evening.

An 8-year-old girl said she was in a fourth floor common area when she was approached about 8:30 p.m. by a man who "touched her inappropriately," said Sgt. Dennis Ivey Jr., a York-Poquoson Sheriff's Office investigator.
[...]

At the time of the incident, the girl was participating in a Great Wolf Lodge activity called "MagiQuest" while her family was checking in, Ivey said.

The Great Wolf Lodge Web site describes "MagiQuest" as "a one-of-a-kind, live-action adventure game. Armed with high-tech wands, your family must solve magical challenges throughout the resort to gain powers (and points) and move to higher levels of the game."

Ivey said the game is organized by the lodge but is played independently like a scavenger hunt.
[...]

Ivey said investigators have "no suspicions" that the girl's account could be unfounded like a recent hoax in which a girl claimed she escaped an abduction attempt in the Bethel Manor neighborhood.

In the lodge incident, the girl provided "decent details" that were consistent with what an 8-year-old would be able to articulate from memory, Ivey said.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-lo...,4654350.story

Guests who stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge recently say they didn't know anything about the sexual attack and they are concerned that a sexual predator might have been sitting next to their child.

While police were scouring Great Wolf Lodge looking for a suspect in the sexual assault of a child, Tim Redfern and his family were checking in, unaware that anytyhing was wrong.

"I asked the lady while we were checking in what's going on, and she said nothing, everything's fine," Redfern said.

But everything was not fine - police say an 8-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in a stairwell. The girl was playing Magic Quest, an electronic scavenger hunt game. It's the same game that Joan Redfern let her young daughter play alone the next day. The Redferns say they didn't know anything about the assault until they got home.

"I feel a little bit betrayed, this is a family place," Joan Redfern said.

The management at Great Wolf Lodge wouldn't talk to NewsChannel 3 on camera, but did speak with us on the phone. They said they did not tell the guests what had happened in part because police asked them not to.

York County Sheriff's officials couldn't comment today. A dispatcher tells NewsChannel 3 the offices were closed for President's Day. Great Wolf Lodge management says neither Magic Quest nor any other attraction was closed down during the investigation. The resort was simply following the detectives' advice.

Joan and Tim Redfern say next time they will think twice about going to Great Wolf Lodge.

"You question whether you go back, you definitely question whether you let your children run around by themselves," Tim Redfern said.

Joan Redfern added, "Especially because this person that did this could have been a guest there, they could have done this and gone back to their room and done it again. So you know, you just never know and it just would have been nice to have been alerted to the situation."

http://www.wtkr.com/news/wtkr-great-...,2614804.story

Seriously, she feels betrayed because it's a "family place"? Where the hell does she think pedos are going to be? At a strip club? Do you really need a warning that the person sitting next to your kid may be a pervert? Because NO ONE told you, you think everyone in the vicinity is a sweetie pie?

I'm not sure what I feel about the hotel not notifying guests. Even their website's description of the game says "your family must solve magical challenges" NOT send your kid out all by him/herself. Even adults get attacked in hotels (and their homes) but I have a hard time blaming them... other than making a place attractive to kids and thus to pedos, too.

In my case, it wouldn't really matter. The same safety precautions would be in place either way and it would just add fear that would ruin my vacation.

[runecire]

Parents have to have some smarts. I would never send an 8yo off to play by themselves in a hotel. Too many rooms hide too many secrets, and it would be so quick and easy to snatch a little 8yo. This family is lucky their little one only got touched.

[Saffron]

I don't know what it is about hotels... I just found out that the guy I went to school with who is a sex offender (victim age 14) who I've been trying to get off Facebook (so far unsuccessfully) works at a hotel running ROOM SERVICE. Sure. Great. That's who I want working room service. You can't expect safety at hotels at all.