A 12-year-old boy walking home from school was a victim of a child luring attempt Thursday afternoon, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
The boy was walking home from Rio Seco School around 3:15 p.m. when a man pulled up alongside him near the 9900 block of Riverwalk Drive in Santee and told the boy his father sent him to pick the boy up from school, sheriff’s Lt. Chris Steffen said.
The boy ran off to a nearby apartment complex and the man drove off on Riverwalk Drive, the lieutenant said.
Both the boy’s mother and father said neither has asked anyone to pick the boy up, he said.
The man was described as white, about 40 to 49 years of age with short blonde hair and stubble on his face. He was last seen wearing a brown Hurley baseball cap, a white, blue and baby blue short-sleeve plaid shirt.
The truck was described as a newer model, but dirty, white Ford F-150 pick-up truck lifted with black rims.
Steffen said the detailed description was helping investigators but a suspect has not been identified.
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Anyone with any information about this incident was asked to call Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
Parents are applauding officials at Rio Seco School for getting information to them so quickly. Some said they had an email and voice call less than two hours after the incident was believed to have happened.
In San Diego, two Tierrasanta Elementary School students were approached by strangers on their walk home Thursday and were offered rides home, according to a letter sent by the principal.
Deputies do not believe the two incidents are connected.
