Children Admit Making Up Abduction Attempt Story

An investigation into a claim by two Redondo Beach third-graders that a man tried to lure them into his car last week was concluded Wednesday when the students admitted that they had made up the story, police said.

The students, a boy and a girl, alleged that a man in a blue pickup truck drove up to the fence near the playground at Washington Elementary School last Thursday and asked the students if they wanted candy. The students said that when they answered no, the man told the boy that his mother was in the hospital and he was supposed to pick him up.

The students said they ran, and the man drove away. They reported the incident to a teacher.

While investigating the case, police discovered that the students could not describe accurately how the incident had transpired or what the man looked like. Police said the students then admitted that they had fabricated the story.

Robert Paulson, director of student services for the Redondo Beach Unified School District, said that one of the students had seen a movie or television show with a similar story.

“We acted so quickly that it just snowballed on them,” Paulson said. “They’re young, they don’t understand the gravity of what they did, but we’ve tried to explain to them that what they made up could be something real.”

District officials and police said they are trying to turn the incident into something positive.

“The system in place to alert the community when such events occur worked,” said Capt. Jeff Cameron.