Father and daughter in Guelph, Ont., mistakenly caught up in human trafficking investigation

A father and daughter explain how they were mistakenly involved in a human trafficking investigation. CTV’s Spencer Turcotte reports.

When a father and daughter stopped at a coffee shop in Guelph, Ont., they never could have predicted their trip would end with a manhunt prompted by mistaken human trafficking concerns.

Jonathan Puddle and his daughter Emmi went to the café on Feb. 18, 2026. Soon after, an image of the pair, taken from a security camera and shared online by the Guelph Police Service, was seen by tens of thousands of people as investigators tried to track down the duo.

Puddle told CTV News that, at the time, there was nothing unusual about their visit.

“We sat down just over there and had our snacks and chatted about nonsense,” he recalled. “Then we went out and got in the van, thinking nothing of it.”

‘This is my daughter’

As Puddle and his daughter prepared to drive off, someone knocked on their window.

A young man and his girlfriend, who had been inside the coffee shop, were trying to get the pair’s attention.

“He said, ‘Can you explain how you’re related to her?’ I said, ‘Yeah, this is my daughter,’” Puddle said.

The man who questioned Puddle, who later identified himself as Logan, said he was trying to get a good look at Emmi during the interaction to see if she was in danger.

“She didn’t really help much because she just kind of clammed up and didn’t really say anything to [Logan],” Puddle said.

“I had no idea what they were talking about. I didn’t hear a single thing,” Emmi told CTV News.

‘Still iffy on it’

Puddle said he understood the man was concerned about Emmi’s wellbeing and once again confirmed she was his daughter.

Logan, for his part, said the conversation he overheard in the café unnerved him because it sounded as though Puddle and Emmi didn’t know each other and he believed Emmi was possibly a victim of human trafficking.

“I was still iffy on it,” he recalled. “That was when I decided to call it in just to be safe than sorry, because I know it’s a serious issue.”

Investigators with the Guelph Police Service also took those concerns seriously.

“We did begin an investigation in an attempt to locate and identify those parties,” Scott Tracey, media relations coordinator with the Guelph Police Service, confirmed.

Investigation called off

They then shared a picture of Puddle and his daughter, which began making the rounds on social media.

“We start getting a flurry of text messages two days ago, and see our photo, and the Guelph Police Service is looking to get in contact with us,” Puddle said.

He then reached out to the police to explain the situation.

“Very quickly the involved man called the police and offered the clarification in terms of what was happening, which we were satisfied with and found no grounds to continue the investigation any further,” Tracey said.

Highest reported rate of human trafficking per capita

While it may have been distressing for Puddle and his daughter, police praised Logan decision to speak up when his intuition told him something was amiss.

“Any municipality along the [Highway] 401 corridor is going to see an increased level of human trafficking, just because of the proximity to the highway and to other major urban centres,” Tracey said.

According to Statistics Canada, Guelph had the highest reported rate of human trafficking per capita across the country in 2024. Data recently released by the Waterloo Regional Police Service revealed human trafficking cases have been rising since 2020, reaching a point where cases in Waterloo Region are now nearly triple the national average.

Thankfully, in Puddle’s situation, human trafficking was not involved.

“It’s a huge relief,” Logan said. “I was still worried about it even a week after I made the call.”

As a father, Puddle was grateful the couple went out of their way to ensure his teenaged daughter was safe.

“If one of my children was missing, I would tear the world apart to find them. I would hope that every person was vigilant, had their eyes open.”

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