Ex Ottawa Uber driver admits to giving 12-year-old girl 'secret admirer' candy, prowling house after delivery

Kristy Nease · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 13, 2026 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 19 minutes ago

A 45-year-old former Uber Eats delivery driver has pleaded guilty to harassing a 12-year-old girl with "secret admirer" messages and candy, as well as prowling her home at night, after he met her while dropping off an order she had placed.

Adam Daniels sat hunched forward and looking down at the floor in the glass-walled prisoner's box of an Ottawa courtroom on Tuesday, as a Crown prosecutor read out an agreed statement of facts against him.

The 12-year-old girl was having a sleepover with a friend on Aug. 4, the Crown said, when at 2 a.m. they placed an order for Wendy's desserts called Frosties. Daniels was working for Uber Eats that night and made the delivery to the girl's home in Kanata.

At her door, Daniels told the 12-year-old she appeared "very mature," the Crown said. (The girl cannot be identified due to a routine publication ban.)

At 4 a.m. that same morning, the girl noticed a paper bag had been left at the front door. It was addressed to her from a "secret admirer." Her mother thought a friend of the girl might be playing a prank on her and installed a security camera the next day, the Crown told court.

'I f--ked up,' Daniels told brother

On Aug. 16, another brown paper bag was discovered at the front door — this one containing $20, more candy and Daniels's phone number. When the girl's mother checked the new security camera's footage, the girl immediately recognized the man who dropped off the bag as the Uber driver who had delivered the Frosties the night of the sleepover, the Crown told court.

The girl's mother contacted Ottawa police and told the story to CTV News to warn the public. Meanwhile, the 12-year-old girl felt unsafe at the home she shared with her mother and opted to move in with her father, the Crown said.

Court heard Tuesday that Daniels recognized himself in surveillance footage on social media, called his estranged brother about it and told him, "I f--ked up." Thinking he was wanted on a warrant, he turned himself in to police and was arrested Oct. 2.

"This behaviour is unacceptable and has no place on the Uber platform," an Uber spokesperson told CBC in an email Thursday. "We take reports like this extremely seriously, and as soon as it was reported, the delivery person's access to the app was removed."

After Daniels pleaded guilty Tuesday, his defence lawyer requested a pre-sentence report, a document written by a probation officer to give the judge more information about Daniels.

Psychiatric assessment ordered

Ontario Court Justice Norm Boxall granted the request for the report, and asked counsel whether a psychiatric assessment and/or sexual behaviour assessment might be warranted to learn more.

"He's 45 years old, she's 12, he's leaving these notes," Boxall said. "There's something not working."

The defence lawyer told the judge that Daniels had spent time in rehab for drug addiction prior to being arrested. She said she didn't want to ask for a sexual behaviour assessment for her client.

In the end, Boxall ordered a psychiatric assessment in addition to the pre-sentence report.

"You can't change what's happened, but we want to know what happened so it doesn't happen again," Boxall said, addressing Daniels directly.

"OK, I understand," Daniels replied.

Daniels remains in jail after his Tuesday guilty pleas and is next set to appear in court in the new year. His defence lawyer declined to identify herself and declined to comment.