Police Seeking Man Who Tried to Lure 4 Children Into Truck

In separate but related incidents over the last two weeks, four schoolchildren in Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach have been approached by a man who has tried to lure them into his pickup truck, police say.

In each case, the children--two 8-year-old boys and two 12-year-old girls--have reported being approached by a man in a blue pickup with a white camper shell. The suspect has been described as in his 30s, white or Latino, with a dark complexion, dark hair and a dark mustache, although police report that some children have said he is overweight and others say he is slender.

All of the children have run away from the man, who has neither gotten out of his vehicle nor attempted to forcibly abduct them, according to police in both cities, who say they have stepped up plainclothes patrols around schools in the wake of the incidents, the first of which happened Sept. 13.

“He has not been successful so far,” Manhattan Beach Detective Jane Hoag said of the suspect, “but he also hasn’t stopped. What is of concern to us is that sooner or later, he may be successful.”

Three of the four attempts occurred in Manhattan Beach, but the most recent took place Monday on Prospect Avenue in Redondo Beach, not far from Hillcrest Elementary School.

Redondo Beach police said a group of girls spotted the man in a pickup “acting kind of strange, singing to himself (and) waving at them” at Emerald Street and Prospect Avenue at about 3:20 p.m.

At 5:45 p.m., when one of the girls was walking home alone, the same man approached her in the 600 block of Prospect Avenue.

‘Come Over Here’

According to Redondo Beach Sgt. Mike Minard, the man said, “Hey, come over here,” but the girl ran in the other direction.

The superintendent of schools in Redondo Beach said neither he nor the principal at Hillcrest School had been informed of the attempted abduction.

Supt. Nick Parras said he and the principal knew only that a group of girls had seen “some guy driving around singing” but were not aware that one of their students was directly approached by the man.

In Manhattan Beach, school officials have dubbed the man the “would-be blue-pickup-truck kidnaper.” They have sent home two flyers reminding parents to take precautions and students not to walk alone to and from school.

In addition, Supt. Douglas Keeler said police composites of the suspect have been distributed to bus drivers, school gardeners and other city employees who drive during the course of their jobs.

“There’s been all kinds of precautions,” he said. “The best precaution has been the behavior that our kids have demonstrated during the course of this incident.”

According to Hoag, the Manhattan Beach detective, the first two attempts both took place near Pacific Elementary School and involved 8-year-old boys who are students there.

The first occurred Sept. 13 at 2:30 p.m. at 18th Street and Flournoy Road, and the second occurred two days later, at 8 a.m. in the 1400 block of Poinsettia Avenue.

Last Friday, Hoag said, the same man approached a 12-year-old girl at 7:20 a.m. as she was walking to Manhattan Beach Intermediate School.

Elsewhere in the South Bay, in a similar but apparently unrelated incident, a 10-year-old student at Point Fermin Elementary School was briefly abducted Sept. 19 by a man driving a panel van.

According to school officials and Los Angeles Harbor Division police, the boy was not feeling well and was waiting for relatives to pick him up at 11:45 a.m., when the man drove up and forced the child into the van. The man drove with the boy for about five blocks and then forced him out of the vehicle, police said.

School Principal Charles Hall said the boy had been waiting on the sidewalk against the instructions of school officials, who had told him to stay inside the schoolyard.