WINDHAM - A 15-year-old girl who frequented an online role-playing game site ran away from home to meet up with a Jacksonville, Fla., man who police say is an online predator previously convicted of fondling a minor eight years ago.

Daniel Lenz, 26, was taken into custody at his apartment around midnight Tuesday. An officer found a Remington 12-gauge shotgun lying beside Lenz's bed, according to a report by Jacksonville police. Lenz, who has a lengthy arrest record dating back to 1997, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

He has not been charged with a crime in New Hampshire yet, but local police are working on the case with the FBI.

Lenz met the girl online while playing "World of Warcraft," a massive, role-playing game that allows "guild" members to play other members from around the world, police said.

Police found the Windham teenager Tuesday in Manning, S.C. She was in the company of Jason Dowling, 23, also of Florida, who was driving the girl south at Lenz's request, police said. It was unclear yesterday why Dowling allegedly agreed to transport the girl for Lenz.

Windham police Chief Gerald Lewis said in a statement yesterday the girl was being home-schooled and had cut off all interaction with her friends in the area.

"Her only contacts outside the home were with an online group of computer users," Lewis said.

The girl's parents, whom police would not identify, learned of their daughter's flight from home Monday when the mother came home from running an errand.

The daughter left a note saying she was moving to the Boston area, according to police. She took a suitcase, a parakeet and two flying squirrels.

Lewis said police believe Lenz instructed Dowling to make sure the girl left behind her cell phone but took her computer so authorities couldn't trace her disappearance to him. Police can frequently track people's whereabouts through cell phones using Global Positioning System technology and other methods. Computer files, including e-mail, often provide police with crucial clues in tracking down suspects.

The teenager had mentioned to her mother that she met a man named Daniel online, that he was 26 years old and living in Florida, police said.

Working with the family, Florida police and online service providers, police were able to identify Lenz.

The parents were on their way to South Carolina yesterday to pick up their daughter, Lewis said.

Lenz told police he lived by himself but refused to answer questions about the missing girl, according to police. He is now in custody at a Florida jail.

He was last arrested in 1999 for sexual battery against a minor, according to a Florida criminal history check. He was allowed to go into a diversion program instead of serving jail time. He has another 10 arrests, including charges for burglary, driving with a suspended license and credit card fraud.