Another abduction attempt reported in Champaign; five in eight days
Updated 6:40 p.m. Wednesday
CHAMPAIGN — A woman told police that a man tried to abduct her 11-year-old daughter on Wednesday afternoon, bringing the number of such attempts in Champaign to five in the past eight days.
Just before 2:40 p.m., police were sent to the corner of Fourth Street and Beardsley Avenue in Champaign, where a woman had been waiting for her daughter's school bus. The woman told police that while she watched, a man pulled up at a stop sign, opened his door and began speaking to her daughter, who "appeared to be afraid."
The daughter, 11, said the man asked where her parents were and then ordered her into the van. The mother yelled and the driver got in the van and drove off, south on Fourth Street.
The description police have is that of an older black man with braided gray hair, a medium complexion and freckles, wearing glasses. He spoke with a deep voice and was wearing a burgundy coat or jacket and an "old" hat.
The vehicle was a tan or beige minivan with black molding on the side. There was a passenger in the van, but the only description of him was of a black man.
Earlier Wednesday, Champaign police said, a family told them that a man approached their 11-year-old Edison Middle School student about 3:45 p.m. Monday in the 1500 block of West Kirby Avenue.
The boy said he was walking east from the bus stop at Mattis and Kirby when he was approached by a black man in a car who offered him a ride. The man was described as in his mid-30s, having "messy," newly unbraided hair and driving a cream-colored four-door car. The child ran immediately and contacted a parent but the family didn't contact police until Wednesday, police said.
About 45 minutes later, also on Monday, a 12-year-old girl said a white man in his 30s with blond hair approached her near Kenwood Road and Sangamon Drive. The man was driving a single-cab red and white Chevrolet pickup truck, which pulled up alongside her. The man, wearing a red shirt under a zippered blue sweatshirt, offered her a ride home but she refused, and ran from the area to contact police.
About 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, an 8-year-old girl said she was approached by a man in a sedan while she walked in the area of Doverbrook and Stonebridge drives. The man offered her candy to get in his car. The girl said there was a second man in the passenger seat.
The driver was described as a white man in his early 20s with a "slicked back" hair style. He was wearing a red plaid shirt and driving a small red newer model four-door sedan. His passenger was described a a white male, about 17, with brown hair.
Police spokeswoman Rene Dunn said there is no indication of any physical contact between the men and the children.
Persons with information about the incidents are asked to call Champaign police at 351-4545 or remain anonymous by calling Champaign County Crimestoppers at 373-8477 (TIPS). Information can also be sent by anonymous web tip at www.373tips.com or by texting keyword “Tip397” plus the information to 274637 (CRIMES).
Last Tuesday, Sept. 20, a man attempted to lure a fifth-grade boy into a vehicle in the Dobbins Downs neighborhood of northwest Champaign. That same day, another white man in his 30s or 40s with graying, slightly balding hair and a beard,tried to get a boy into a sport utility vehicle on Pells Street in Paxton.
Champaign school district spokeswoman Lynn Peisker said a letter was sent out electronically to all students as soon as possible and a paper letter will be sent home to parents of children in grades K-8.
Please say there's been a big mistake. In a story about perverts trying to kidnap kids in broad daylight, you can't possibly be sticking to your policy of omitting physical descriptions of the suspects. You are guilty of either oversight or outright lying when you report that the description of the suspect in the Kenwood incident is "incomplete." The Champaign PD has a full description of the suspect on their website (white male in his 30s with blond hair wearing a red shirt under a zippered navy blue sweatshirt). I can't find the other incident on the CPD website, but I suspect that you have a full description of that suspect, too, sitting in the drawer somewhere, sacrificed to the same stupid policy. Get your priorities straight. Men are trying to lure kids into vans. God only knows what'll happen if they succeed. If you can't muster the journalistic courage to report all the facts now, what good are you ever going to be?
Thanks for your note. You raise a good point. For us, it depends on what constitutes a complete description. Race, gender and age generally are not sufficient for us. Is he a tall 30-year-old man? Short? Skinny? Muscular?
Having said that, in this instance I would tend to agree with you. There won't be much more description of a person in a vehicle than what you rightly note here. So I have added descriptions of each of the incidents.
Mike Howie
online editor
That is what happens when all the sex offenders are housed and concentrated in one neighborhood.
Just look it up, we have clusters of sex offenders housed in our neighborhood because it is low income and we didn't put up a fuss about it.
House some of them in the affluent mostly white neighborhoods. Why must we have them all here in Holiday Park and adjacent areas. We have schools and children and parks, a veritable buffet for the perverts.
This has got to be one of the less intelligent comments that I have seen on this site:
1. If you consulted the sex offender database (which you obviously haven't), you would find that they are located all over town.
2. Or, if they were concentrated in just one area: How exactly do you propose we relocate them into affluent areas? Free McMansions for sex offenders?
3. It is a typical liberal concept to distribute misery more widely rather than trying to solve a problem.
Yatiri, this discussion is not about racism. Let's not make it about racism. You are an embarrassment to the rest of us who happen to have the same skin hues, but who don't live our lives playing "victim".
If you would like to buy a house in an affluent neighborhood to send sex offenders to, you're quite welcome--those neighborhoods also have "schools and children and parks". What we need to do is train children to God-fearing and responsible, and not let them fall into the victim trap.
I grew up in Holiday Park, my parents still live there, and it's not what I would call a "low income" neighborhood. Many of the houses there can sell from 90K to 150K depending on the condition of the home, and the square footage. It's a pretty basic middle/working class area. I currently live in Garden Hills, and I've looked up the database of registered offenders and they are pretty much everywhere as noted by other participants on the thread. The key word here is "registered", because there are people who prey on kids who have not been caught, or who have not bothered to report their address to the authorities.
These attempts have also taken place in Dobbins Downs, 4th and Beardsley, and Paxton, Illinois. As a result, I think that a widespread concern is justified. One of the reports stated that an attempt took place close to Carrie Busey, so I wonder if increasing both awareness and police patrols would be beneficial. At least it appears that none of these attempts have met with any success, and that people are staying alert in this situation.
just to set the record straight...i live in paxton, which as you describe as a "white" neighborhood community. we, too, have sex offenders here, housed all around. low income or not, they are living among our cities, town and communities. this also happened in our small town just last week. i don't know if there is any connection with any of these cases, but this is really getting a little scary for our school children. i remember walking to and from school with not a care in the world. yes, that was yrs ago, but we need to step up police patrol around the schools, at the times that school children are going and coming to avoid this situation. we have here in paxton, and it has worked so far. thanks to our PD we can breathe a little easier.
The police can react, respond and investigate, but proactive safety precautions and self defense are up to you. Keep your kids with responsible adults, and don't be afraid to report suspicious activity or license plates of suspicious vehicles. Be prepared to defend yourself and your kids, don't create vulnerable situations .
Ok. Really? No one but me is getting a little suspicious about the number of reports that suddenly surfaced, all apparently involving different men in different vehicles? I wonder if the fact that every teacher, administrator and parent is talking to kids about this has maybe caused a little bit of wannabe action. The first one...maybe. Two? Possibly. Five _different_ guys attempting to abduct _both_ boys and girls in eight days? Hmmm....
Maybe you should read the CPD's information on the suspects, as well as the other article by the NG. They have gotten similar descriptions of one suspect in two of the cases. He's a blonde white guy whose approaching young girls. They have also gotten similar descriptions of another suspect in two separate cases. He's a black man approaching young boys.
There aren't five different suspect descriptions. The car is an easy enough thing to switch - either they could own more than one, or borrow it from someone. They can read the news too, and it's an obvious tactic to avoid being caught.
The comment about the "affluent mostly white neighborhoods" is innapropriate and irrelevant. There are sex offenders in every neighborhood, from the poorest to the richest, as witnessed by the different areas where the attempts occurred. Sex offenders encompass all ethnicities. They also don't just lurk around their own neighborhood, waiting for kids. They have vehicles, so they obviously can go where they please. Holiday Park has an elementary, middle, and high school in close proximity. It should come as no surprise that someone with those intentions would be hanging around the area.
What is important is that everyone stay vigilant to protect our children. If you see something suspicious, call the police. If you see a car following a young kid, intervene. Too many times people turn a blind eye, either out of ignorance or not wanting to get involved. Let's drop the complaining and focus on the important issue - keeping the children of this community safe.
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