Police In Northern N.J. Speaking To Students In Wake Of Attempted Lurings
RIDGEWOOD, NJ (CBSNewYork) — Police in northern New Jersey have been speaking to school students about stranger danger following a rash of attempted child luring incidents.
Luring attempts have been reported in more than half a dozen towns in Bergen and Passaic counties during the past few weeks, including New Milford, Westwood, Maywood, Oradell, Hackensack, Hawthorne and Fair Lawn.
With Halloween around the corner, the string of incidents have some parents in the northern part of the Garden State on edge.
"It's tough, it's tough. Our older one, he's 11, he wants to go trick or treating around the block. I don't think that's going to happen," New Milford mother Jenna Lubnewski told CBS 2's Emily Smith on Monday.
WCBS 880's Sean Adams reports
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Police have released four different sketches of possible suspects in several cases.
The most recent happened Sunday. An 8-year-old boy told police he was washing his hands in a Ridgewood restaurant bathroom when a man told him to come with him, according to authorities. The child didn't and the man left.
On Saturday, police said a man approached a 12-year-old girl who was sitting alone in a New Milford Dunkin Donuts parking lot. She ran inside to her mother.
"With a 12-year-old you think you're safe just running in Dunkin Donuts, leaving your kid outside, but, unfortunately, not right now," said parent Melanie Presha of New Milford.
In another incident, a 17-year-old girl said she was also targeted by a man who tried to get her into his car. It happened Thursday when she got off the bus.
"I just knew I wasn't going to get in a car with a stranger," the teen said. "Absolutely not."
1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg reports
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A man who fits the same description tried to lure a 10-year-old girl and her 7-year-old brother into his silver sedan.
With several incidents in New Milford alone, police from the DARE program were planning to visit all schools in the area Monday to speak about stranger danger.
"Finally somebody's doing something about it," one mother said.
The recent luring attempts have also apparently encouraged parents to review stranger safety.
"I would run away and I would scream," one little girl told Smith.
In Westwood, police continue to set up road blocks, looking for information on a suspect who they said tried to lure a 13-year-old into his car.
Other county and local authorities have also stepped up patrols.
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