A New "Friend" Online

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Police say Waqas Rehman sexually molested Nicole twice in the summer of 2004 when she was just 12 years old.

Nicole was just 12 years old when she "met" an older man online. The two started chatting regularly and soon Nicole's "friend" convinced her that they should meet in person. Nicole told AMW correspondent John Turchin about her ordeal with her new "friend" and the pain she says she suffered at his hands.  

That man turned out to be 27-year-old Waqas Rehman, who police say called himself "Michael" online when he chatted with Nicole. Nicole had embellished her profile, claiming to be 15 rather than 12 years old, but their major age difference didn't stop Rehman from setting up a real-life meeting with the preteen.

The Initial Encounter

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Jamei Levine says she never imagined that letting her daughter have a computer could cause so much damage.

Nicole and Rehman decided to meet for the first time on Aug. 4, 2004 -- and this was no random date.

Nicole knew her mother, Jamei Levin, would never have given her permission to leave the house unsupervised, so she agreed to meet Rehman on a day when she knew her mother wouldn't be at home. But Nicole still had to get past her sister, who relented only after Nicole begged and promised that she was meeting a friend at a nearby bookstore and would be back within the hour.

So Nicole walked out of the house and a few blocks later, right into Rehman's car. There, police say Rehman fondled the girl, touching her chest and thighs and even forcing her to sit on his lap in the backseat.

After the alleged abuse, Nicole was obviously shaken, but Rehman convinced her to meet again and assured her that nothing else would happen. But according to police, that was just another one of Rehman's lies.

A Life-Saving Call

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After searching her sister Nicole's computer, Jackie discovered that the 12-year-old had been talking to a much-older man.

Nicole met Rehman for a second time just three days later, but this time she had to convince her mom to ler her out of the house. Jamei said yes, with some hesitation, but let Nicole go and gave her a cell phone. She told her daughter that she would call in exactly an hour and if she didn't pick up, Jamei would come to get her.

Like the first encounter, Nicole got into Rehman's car, but instead of parking they drove to a nearby apartment. Nicole told AMW that once they were inside, Rehman locked all the doors, put a comforter on the floor, and stripped them both down naked. But right in the middle of his alleged molestation, Jamei called the cell she had given Nicole, interrupting the abuse. She thought Nicole sounded strange and immediately headed to the bookstore where she thought Nicole had met a friend.

Jamei finally spotted Nicole after she circled the block around the bookstore several times. When her daughter got into the car, Jamei says she looked scared and shaken, so she knew something was wrong. But Nicole didn't reveal to her mother that Rehman had allegedly molested her.

Getting Some Answers

Jamei and her older daughters were determined to find out what had happened to Nicole, so they searched her computer and what they found was shocking. Nicole had saved almost all of her e-mails and IM conversations with Rehman in her computer.

The women went to police with the information they'd found and on September 9, police charged Rehman with several counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a minor. But a few months later, Rehman failed to appear in court on November 29 and has been on the run ever since. Police think he may be in the Middle East, and Jamei Levine says Nicole is devastated that Rehman has eluded justice for this long.