Emporia police do not believe foul play was involved in two separate incidents of juveniles being approached by occupants of vehicles outside local schools.
A week ago, police received two complaints about people trying to get children to enter their vehicles, according to Mike Williams, deputy police chief.
The first occurrence was near Village School after school was dismissed for the day on April 5 and involved an unknown purple vehicle which was occupied by two unknown white males with one having curly brown/blonde hair.
The second occurrence was near Lowther South School on April 6 and was before classes started for the day. An unknown black van was involved in this occurrence and was occupied by unknown white and black males.
Michael Lopez, interim police chief, said Thursday, that the police department has not been able to determine if the incidents are related.
“However, we do feel there was no intent of foul play not any intent of an abduction of students,” Lopez said.
The first incident was a third-party report by the father of the student. The daughter reported to her father two people inside a car. She was unable to describe the occupants other than the passenger was a white male teenager who was trying to get kids to come over to see his wrestling belt. Lopez said the incident actually occurred on Wednesday near Village.
The second incident occurred at Lowther South Intermediate School prior to school. The mother of the 11-year-old student did not call the police department until about 3 p.m. the same day. The student reported a newer van with tinted windows occupied by three or four white and black males who tried to talk him into the van. The student added a white male with brown hair opened the side door and spoke to him. No other information was provided by the student.
The officer taking the second call was aware of the first incident and felt the information needed to be passed on to the school administrators from USD 253 in order to alert them of the two incidents. This was done late Friday afternoon to the School Board office.
“We strongly suggest parents need and should educate their children on the possible dangers of strangers contacting their children and for the students to report such incidents immediately to a teacher and their parents,” Lopez said.