Recent Child Luring Attempts Inspire Schools to Alert Parents

Local law enforcement and school district officials are urging Lake Minnetonka area parents to be on high alert after a series of recent child abduction attempts.

The latest happened Sunday morning just southwest of Lake Minnetonka in Victoria, where a 10-year-old boy says he was chased by a stranger. The boy managed to reach the home of a nearby resident, who let him in and called his parents. The suspect fled and hasn't been identified or found.

The Carver County Sheriff’s Office says the boy was approached sometime around 10 a.m. Sunday. He told deputies the man didn't speak to him but chased him for about 30 feet. 

Sheriff Jim Olson describes the suspect as a white male, around 5’8” tall, roughly 170-180 pounds, white/grey hair, slightly balding, with a beard and wearing a long sleeve t-shirt. The suspect’s vehicle is described only as a silver car that was observed earlier in the morning parked on Interlaken Road.

With Sunday’s episode, coming on the heels of several similar occurrences in the west metro, school districts around the lake have sent home notices to parents advising them of recent events. 

A —one in Minnetonka, the other in Brooklyn Park—involved a stranger using candy to lure. Late last month, a Wayzata elementary school student said a man in a white van approached him, asking him him to get in. The student reported the exchange to school administrators, and the Plymouth Police Department is investigating. 

In a recorded phone message to parents following the incident, Sunset Hill Elementary School principal Karen Keffeler said “because the safety of all students is a top priority, we ask that you remind your children of the importance of avoiding strangers and of walking with a sibling or friend whenever possible.”

More than 65 percent of all child abductions in the United States occur during spring and summer months, according to the Department of Justice. About 1.3 million children are reported missing each year in the United States, and just under 700,000 of those cases are entered into the nation's missing children database.

Looking for some reference points in talking to your children about interacting with strangers? Check out this Patch blog written by Neil Huotari.