Teen Runs Away to Meet World of Warcraft Cougar Soulmate

HOUSTON—A 42-year-old Houston mother was behind bars Tuesday, accused of having a relationship with a 16-year-old boy.
Lauri Price is charged with three counts of solicitation of a child over the Internet.
Authorities say she struck up a relationship online with a boy who lives in Canada. They met in the fall of 2008 while playing the popular video game “World of Warcraft,” according to investigators.
They said Price flew to Toronto to meet the boy.
“She got the young man — who is now 16-years of age — to leave the home, leave his parents,” said Lt. Mathew Gray with the Internet Crimes against Children Task Force. “And they went to a local bed and breakfast where some sexual activity took place.”

The teen’s parents reported him missing and an alert was issued in the town of Barrie.
Two days later, the boy was found by an off-duty police officer.
Canadian police had to release Price because it’s not against the law in Canada for an adult to have sex with a 16-year-old.
The Harris County District Attorney’s office decided to prosecute Price on two charges of online soliticitation of a minor and one count of enticing a child.
“We worked with immigration, customs enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, the Houston Police Department and members of our task force,” Gray said.
Her plane landed just after midnight at Bush Intercontinental Airport where she was arrested and taken to jail.
Lt. Gray said all parents need to know that Internet video games can lead to trouble.
“We’ve worked cases involving Playstations, Xbox, numerous cases involving World of Warcraft where they can actually have private messages, instant messages back in forth between the suspect and the child,” Gray said.
Price, who has four children of her own, is being held on a $300,000 bond.