Man arrested after two reports of luring near middle school
A 13-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy each reported a large man in a black or dark blue sports car had approached them individually while walking home from school just after 3 p.m., in one case reportedly telling the minor to “Get in the car” and “come with me,” according to a probable cause statement from the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office.
A 55-year-old Bremerton man has been charged two counts of luring after reportedly approaching two different children from his car Wednesday in the neighborhood surrounding Mountain View Middle School.
A 13-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy each reported a large man in a black or dark blue sports car had approached them individually while walking home from school just after 3 p.m., in one case reportedly telling the minor to “Get in the car” and “come with me,” according to a probable cause statement from the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office. The girl, who was approached while walking on Trenton Avenue in East Bremerton, north of the middle school, told her father about the encounter, and two Sheriff’s deputies responded to the area. A Dodge Challenger matching the description and a photo provided by one of the children’s parents was located by a deputy about a block away, and contacted by KCSO.
The driver confirmed to deputies that he had been driving slowly around the area, even using the term “creeping” at one point, and spoke to two children. The suspect said he did so to ask them how their day had been. The driver told deputies he lives in the area and was “checking up on them,” and denied asking either child to get inside his car.
When asked by deputies to exit the car the driver declined to do so three different times, according to police reports, and when two deputies attempted to physically pull him from the car he continued to resist. After being removed from the car and handcuffed the suspect was searched, and a folding knife was found in a front pocket of his pants.
The suspect was then brought into view of the reporting party, who remained approximately a block away with a deputy. She identified the 55year-old as the person who had been driving the car and making comments out the driver’s window to the child.
The girl told deputies that the Dodge Challenger had swerved into the middle of the road and slowed to the same pace as she was walking, when the male asked her to get into the car and offered to drive her home. The girl knew something was wrong, said no and began walking away, she told deputies.
A second call reporting a suspicious car in the area was reported around the same time the suspect was arrested and taken to Kitsap County Jail. Deputies contacted a 13-year-old boy, who was also walking home from school that afternoon in the Trenton Avenue area. The 13-year-old boy told deputies he was “creeped out” when a car matching the same description of the suspect’s Dodge Challenger revved its engine, slowed down behind him and a man inside asked “How was school?” and “Where do you go to school?” The boy walked away after feeling threatened, he told deputies. When talking to deputies the boy identified a man with a beard and blue hat, which matched the description of the 55-year-old.
The suspect was booked into Kitsap County Jail and charged Friday with two counts of luring a minor.