Another attempted child luring incident in Erin Ridge last week has police again reminding parents to re-enforce safety with their children.
Police were called on Friday afternoon around 3:45 p.m. after a 10-year-old girl reported to her mother a suspicious encounter with an older man.
The girl was dropped off by a school bus and walking the rest of the way home when an older man approached her and asked if she wanted some candy.
He was driving an older four-door model blue car with several dents in the bumper and was parked near the bus stop.
The young girl ignored the man’s questions and quickly walked home and told her mother, who called the RCMP.
The RCMP are hoping someone can help identify the older man who was described as having grey hair, scruffy facial hair, a wrinkled face with a large scar below one of his eyes.
He was between five-feet-six and five-feet-seven inches tall and was wearing a blue jean jacket, black pants and a black toque.
The vehicle in this incident is strikingly similar to one from November police warned the public about last week after a string of suspicious incidents.
On Nov. 25 a 10-year-old-girl rejected an offer to see some kittens in a man’s car as she was leaving school in the Grandin area.
The vehicle in that case was an older model, large blue four-door car with a dent in the driver’s side door, rust on the fender and tinted windows.
St. Albert RCMP Const. Janice Schoepp said police are very aware of the similarities, but the descriptions of the drivers are markedly different.
Even so the RCMP is looking through reports from other communities for similar incidents.
“We are looking at even in the area surrounding in Edmonton. We are looking to see if there were calls that came in where an adult approaches a child.”
She said the police are encouraged in the most recent case and the previous ones because the children did the right thing.
“The children knew exactly what to do. They said no, they walked away and then they told someone about it. They kept their distance.”
Even though these children made the right decision, Schoepp said it’s still a good idea to review safety issues with children who might be approached.
“We are encouraging all parents to have the discussion with their children about what they would say if they were approached, to sort of rehearse those things so they will remember them.”
Anyone with any information on either incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or the St. Albert RCMP at 780-458-7700.
