Fifth incident in three months in which man in vehicle follows
minors
Gilroy – A man ran toward two young girls when they tried to retrieve the morning newspaper Monday, marking the fifth suspicious incident in less than three months, police said.
A dark-skinned adult male with black hair and moustache wearing all black clothing approached the two girls, both younger than 10, at 7:30am in a driveway near the intersection of Thomas and Alder streets in southwest Gilroy. The children reentered their house and alerted a parent to the incident while the man took off westbound on Alder Street in a white sedan with a dent in the driver’s side.
Last week, witnesses said the same man, seen sitting in the same car, yelled to one of the girls involved in Monday’s incident to come to the car, but she ran into her house. Police were not notified of last week’s incident until Monday.
There has been a rash of suspicious incidents involving adult men in white vehicles approaching minors since August, according to police:
n In early August, a man followed a female out of a convenience store and pursued her in his white van.
n Aug. 30, an older Hispanic man driving a marred white van followed and then approached a 17-year-old female outside her house.
n Sept. 14, a younger Hispanic man approached a 17-year-old male near Gilroy High School and offered him a ride in a marked white van.
n Oct. 7, an older Hispanic male with black hair and moustache followed a 10-year-old girl in a white truck.
No one was hurt in any of the incidents.
“Because of the descriptions we’re getting in the different incidents, I can’t say it’s one person,” Sgt. Robert Locke-Paddon said. “We’re still looking into all of the events to see how they’re connected and if they even are connected.”
In the wake of the incidents, police stepped up patrols and distributed suspect and vehicle descriptions to officers. Police photographed vehicles that match descriptions and showed them to witnesses to see if they looked familiar. They also checked in on registered sex offenders, parolees and probationers.
Police did not contact employees at Las Animas Elementary School, located about one mile from the recent incident.
“I don’t want to send out a false alarm,” Locke-Paddon said. “I contacted (the school resource officer) and she didn’t believe the incident was close enough to the school and wouldn’t be related at all to the school.”
The involved girls, who do not attend Las Animas, were not walking to school, he said. There is no evidence the suspect is interested in local students, he added.
“It almost appears this person is interested in this one particular area or this particular child or set of children,” Locke-Paddon said.
The incidents could be a result of increased awareness, he said. Police are working to determine the root causes, he added.
In addition to males in white vehicles, a similar incident attribute is that witnesses did not report previous suspicious encounters with the person or vehicle. Reporting incidents immediately greatly increases police contact with suspects and success in investigating incidents, Locke-Paddon said.
“It makes it pretty difficult, when we’re not called, to respond and take any action,” he said.
Christopher Quirk covers education and public safety for the Dispatch. Contact him at 847-7240 or cq****@************ch.com.
