Stranger asks girls to take ride
Police are looking for a suspicious man who reportedly asked two girls to get inside of his SUV in the Ashland community near Montclair.
The father of an 11-year-old girl told police a man drove near his house at 1 p.m. on Sept. 5, rolled down the window to his black SUV and invited the 11-year-old and her 7-year-old friend to get into his truck.
Both girls, who were playing in the front yard, declined and ran back to the house, said Prince William police spokeswoman Erika Hernandez.
The man appeared again between 7 and 8 p.m. on Sept. 12, in the area of Lyceum Lane, when the same two girls saw the man drive into the area, said Hernandez. This time, the man got out of his car and walked on the sidewalk, then went back to his car and drove away, said Hernandez.
The 11-year-old saw the same man again about 6:15 p.m. on Oct. 6, driving in the area of Warm Springs and Lyceum lanes. The man drove around and then left the area, said Hernandez.
The man is described as black, between 30 and 40 years old, approximately 6 feet tall with a thin build.
The man was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, black sweatpants and white sneakers the first time the man was spotted. All three times the man was seen driving a black SUV.
Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached 703-878-8065.
Advertisement
Reader Reactions
I have lived in the Ashland community for a very long time. Yes, this should have been brought to the attention of the community at the first encounter. It’s rare, but when a situation like this arises and the word gets out; the community bans together for the sake of the children’s safety. Let’s keep our children informed and remind them to NEVER get into a stranger’s car, run for help and get as much information about the person & vehicle as possible. Talk to your neighbors to make sure they know. It concerns me now more than ever especially since Halloween is just around the corner and the kids will be out trick-or-treating. I really feel like making poster boards up at all entrances and stop signs in the community letting Stranger Danger know we have our eyes open for him. Perhaps the street captains can make flyers and pass them out to those on the street that they are assigned to so everyone is informed of this situation. I hope he gets caught and that the police can put him away for a long time. This guy is sick!
I live on Lyceum Lane in Ashland and have 6 and 12 yr old children. The first we heard of any of this was in a robo-call from the Ashland Elementary principal on Friday, October 9th! It directed us to a link on the school page with the Crime Alert for the suspicious person incidents. On Monday, we received another robo-call from the Ashland principal stating that the police had advised that someone matching the description had been seen in the wooded area behind the Minnieland in Ashland that day. On Tuesday I called the police to get more information, as the crime alert had no specifics, time of day, gender or ages of children, etc, but the person I spoke to could tell me no more information than what was on the Crime Alert. This article today gave us more information that we have received from any other sources. There was no notification in our mailboxes of the Crime Alert or anything. With two children nearly mirroring the ages of the two described in this article, Im wondering why we were not alerted a month ago?
lakelover- I am asking the same questions. Also if it wasn’t in the news, I hope that the police at least informed the neighborhood.
This reminds me of the incident in Wellington and this newspaper didn’t write about it until 4 or 5 days after the police press release went out. Boy they got an earful from me about that.
A black SUV driven by a thin black man. That is a lot to go on if you are a detective. They should get this guy
Something doesn’t sound right. For safetys sake I hope this is a story the girls have made up.
Am I missing something? Why am I reading about this for the first time on Oct. 15th when this occurred in Sept. and early Oct.? I will admit, I haven’t been able to get on here every day, but IS this the first time published? I hope that community has gotten the word out to everyone, children need heavily watched in this area particularly.
He either has a mission for these two girls or he is just canvasing the area looking for whomever is available. The month long span between the first to the latest sighting is disturbing. I doubt this guy was only out those times the girls saw him.
The scary part is he will find someone vunerable one of these times and we’ll have new headlines. Watch out for vehicles of that type that do not belong in your neighborhoods. Grab a license plate number and pass it along to the police. Better to check dozen of false vehicles then to let one slip by that “couldn’t possibly be the one”. It may be the one.
Advertisement