“I’m glad she’s safe . . . I just can’t wait to see her,” said the girl’s mother, Jaime Bletz, by phone Wednesday evening.
The mother added it’s been an exhausting and stressful week. She’s experienced many sleepless nights wondering about her daughter who was an estimated 10 hours away in Mount Morris, Ill.
Prior to her daughter’s disappearance, Jaime Bletz had placed the girl in temporary foster care. She said it was her way of protecting her daughter from Donald Guthrie, 38, of Jersey Shore.
She said her daughter ran away from home before disappearing with Guthrie, who is a registered sex offender. She said Guthrie had been speaking with her daughter for some time and even sending her sexual text messages.
Guthrie was charged with a number of felonies, including unlawful contact with a minor, indecent assault and child pornography. Recently, he was connected to a bank robbery in Hughesville.
Guthrie was spotted walking down the street in Mount Morris, Ill. Wednesday afternoon. Police stopped him at which time he provided a false name and continued walking. After an investigation, police determined they’d stopped Guthrie. He was subsequently arrested and taken into custody.
Jaime Bletz has spoken to her daughter by phone. She told WJAC-TV that her daughter is doing OK and is just a little shaken up. Her daughter will be transported back to Pennsylvania to be reunited with her.
“I just want to say thank you. I [would like to] thank everybody [who] looked and searched and for all the flyers that they’ve made,” said Jaime Bletz. “. . . I don’t know how to repay them.”