Chilling surveillance video captured a man trying to abduct a 10-year-old Florida girl by offering her candy and money – but she was able to escape from the creep on two separate occasions, police said.
The Fort Lauderdale girl is seen fleeing from the would-be kidnapper, who accosted her on Wednesday and Thursday.
“She said this man had parked the van on the side of the street and he came over and he opened the door and he asked her if she wants some candy,” the girl’s mother told WPLG.
The girl was walking to school Wednesday morning near Northeast 15th Street and 17th Way when the van pulled up beside her near Bennett Elementary and Sunrise Middle schools, Detective Ali Adamson said.
“At some point, the suspect exits his vehicle and attempts to grab this 10-year-old child,” Adamson told WSVN.
Her parents told WPLG that their daughter reported the frightening incident to staff at Bennett, where she is not a student.
“I don’t know why the school didn’t alert me,” her mother told the station, though Broward school district officials said they have no record of the incident being reported.
A man tried to abduct a 10-year-old Fort Lauderdale girl two days in a row by offering her candy and money, police said. Fort Lauderdale PD
Police circulated fliers in the Poinsettia Heights neighborhood as they look for the suspect. Fort Lauderdale PDIn Thursday’s incident, the mother said the man told the girl, “You know, yesterday you didn’t get your candy or anything — here’s your candy.”
Adamson said the man approached the girl on foot on Thursday.
“Due to the circumstances, we are considering this a possible attempted abduction,” police Detective Ali Adamson said. Fort Lauderdale PD“He begins to engage in a conversation with her,” he told WSVN.
A person who saw the interaction reportedly intervened.
“A witness in the area approaches them, and asks the 10-year-old if she knows this man,” Adamson said. “She says, ‘No.’ At the same time she’s saying ‘no,’ the suspect says, ‘yes,’ they do know each other and that he is her grandfather.
“The witness, realizing that something’s not right, instructs the 10-year-old to run,” he said, adding that she fled to a nearby school.
A resident who witnessed the attempted abduction reportedly told the girl to run away from the stranger. Fort Lauderdale PD“These incidents are of great concern to us and we need your help finding the person responsible,” police said in a statement, WESH reported. “Due to the circumstances, we are considering this a possible attempted abduction.”
In a message to parents, Sunrise Middle School said: “This serves a perfect alignment to talk to your child about stranger danger and staying safe while walking to or from school.”
A $5,000 reward is being offered for the capture of the suspect, who was driving a black van with possible taillight damage.
The suspect is described as a 25- to 40-year-old white man with short brown hair.
Parent Anika Prescia told WSVN: “They are kids, they are babies and it breaks my heart to hear that other people want to do that to kids.”
