10 Year-Old Claims Possible Abduction Attempt in Largo

10 Year-Old Claims Possible Abduction Attempt in Largo

Update December 11, 2014 4:30PM

Like IONTB on Facebook and follow @iontb on twitter for any updatesOn December 8th, 2014, at approximately 4:55 PM, the Largo Police received a call regarding an allegation of a 10-year-old girl who attends Mildred Helms Elementary School being chased by an adult male on her way to school at approximately 7:30 AM.  The allegation is that as the student was riding her bike to school, she came to an intersection at 10th Ave NW and Clearwater Largo Rd.  A dirty red pickup truck with large tires then pulled up in front of her at the intersection causing her to stop.  A thin white male, 5’6″-5’10”, in his 20’s-30s, wearing glasses, a baseball cap, and brown or green jacket got out of the truck and approached the juvenile.  As he came toward the juvenile she got off her bike and subsequently swung her backpack at the male before running a short distance away.  The subject did not say anything, but was alleged to have reached toward the juvenile though he never made contact.

On Wednesday afternoon, automated phone messages were sent out to parents and families that have students at the school giving out limited details of the incident.

There were inaccurate details circulating of another incident that occurred Wednesday afternoon according to Largo Police.  Members of the Pinellas County Schools Police and Largo Police Department were circulating in the area of the incident on Wednesday when another uninvolved student who had received the letter from the school advised a crossing guard that he knows where a red truck parks near the area of the incident.  This lead was followed up on and at present but did not lead to additional information.  There was no reported interaction between a red truck and the second juvenile.

Detectives from Largo Police Department following up on the case on Thursday have located a video in the area of the incident.  The video shows a pick up truck making a U-turn in the parking lot of the Health South Complex around the same time the incident occurred.  This is the best video that they presently have obtained.  It only shows the truck making a u-turn, and it does not show any portion of the confrontation between the juvenile and the individual in the truck.  The truck first enters the video around 24 seconds in, and the pedestrian in the video is not the victim.  The pedestrian is an employee that detectives spoke with. They did not witness the event.  No video that captured that event has been located.

Video

Anyone who may recognize the vehicle is asked to call the Largo Police Department at 727-587-6730.  The Largo Police Department advocates that students travel to school in pairs or groups when possible, and will continue to have an increased presence in the area before and after school.