By Chris Paschenko
The Daily News
Published February 18, 2009
FRIENDSWOOD — Two cases of suspicious behavior around schoolchildren prompted police Tuesday to alert parents to take precautions.
School officials also alerted students and sent letters home to parents, detailing reports to Friendswood police of a man who tried to lure a 12-year-old girl into his car and another report of an automobile circling bus stops.
Police want to identify a Hispanic man in his 20s or 30s who might have been wearing a hat over his thick, black, curly or wavy hair. The man at 3:25 p.m. Monday stopped his dark-colored car near a 12-year-old girl who was walking in front of her home in the 300 block of Gleneagles Drive in the Sunmeadow subdivision.
The man drove away when the girl refused to get into the car, but a second report surfaced from a 4:30 p.m. incident involving an automobile seen circling the 600 block of Oak Drive.
A man driving a medium to dark blue car, possibly a 1990s model Nissan or Pontiac Bonneville with dark tented windows, circled areas where a school bus dropped children in the Polly Ranch subdivision, police said.
The car sped away when an adult moved in for a closer look. Officers were unable to find the suspicious car or cars, police said.
The school district’s transportation department was briefed and will monitor children’s safety during bus routes.
“We sent home a letter to all parents today and used an e-mail blast with the same statement,” said Thad Roher, an assistant superintendent at Friendswood schools. “We’re concerned with kids’ safety in the community.”
In December, suspicious women approaching schoolchildren and buses asking for children by name turned out to be contractors conducting health surveys for the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Roher said he could recall no other similar circumstances.
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How to help Authorities asked anyone with information to call Friendswood police at 281-996-3300.
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