Westwood, N.J. Police Investigating Attempted Luring Of 13-Year-Old Girl

WESTWOOD, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Parents in Bergen County were on alert Thursday night following a new report of a man attempting to lure a child into his car.

The latest incident happened in Westwood, where a warning letter was sent home with kids, CBS 2's Hazel Sanchez reported.

As parents headed home with their children, Westwood police stopped them at a roadblock with unsettling news about a search for a suspect in a luring incident.

Investigators said the man in the sketch, described as a middle-aged white man, approached a 13-year-old girl as she walked to school on Lafayette Avenue alongside Voorhis Park. He asked the girl to get in his grey four-door hatchback. The child refused and the man took off, police said.

"I was kind of scared a little bit because I know it's been going on in other neighboring towns as well -- Hackensack, Oradell -- kind of makes us nervous, actually," parent Grace He said.

It was the latest in a series of possible luring attempts in Bergen County. Many parents, like Linda Rank, said they are on edge as the number of incidents grows.

"Nervous 'cause it's not the first one. There's been a few in the past few weeks and it's a little nerve-wracking to know that someone's running around like that," Rank said.

Rank and parents in the Westwood School District were sent warnings about the suspected predator in their neighborhood.

"You get e-alerts; you get a phone call; you get a text message from the school district letting you know there was an incident of luring of a child," Rank said.

Police in nearby communities like Upper Saddle River have also notified parents and students about the recent lurings in hopes of preventing an incident in their backyard.

Many children said they're on guard.

"I would yell and run away," Erik Rank said.

"I never really walk alone. I always walk with my mom," another child said.

Earlier this week, police said accusations of a man trying to lure two boys in Lyndhurst was a hoax.

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