Authorities reached out to the public Thursday for help identifying a man who posed as a police officer last month while trying to persuade children to get into his vehicle in a Skyline-area neighborhood.
The man, who appeared to be in his late 20s, approached the minors, ages 9 and 12, at Keiller Park on Woodrow Avenue about 10 a.m. March 11, told them he was a lawman and tried to lure them into his vehicle so he could take photos of them, according to the San Diego Police Department.
Suspicious of the stranger's behavior, the children refused to follow him. Instead, they reported what had happened to another adult, who then notified the police. The man, meanwhile, left the area to the east on Lisbon Street.
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He was described as a black-haired, roughly 5-foot-5-inch Latino wearing black pants, a blue T-shirt with white horizontal stripes and white shoes. Police released an artist's rendering of him on Thursday.
Police said the girls did not see the vehicle the man was trying to get them into. There is no vehicle description.
“It scares me, it scares me a lot, said Marisela Carranda, who lives across the street from the park, which is also near a middle school, last month
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Carranda has two grandkids, one is 14-year-old the other is 5 years old who sometimes walk past Keiller Park to visit her.
“It's very scary. Someone posing as a police officer, that’s who we trust," Carranda told NBC 7. "To think they might be able to take somebody’s child or even our children."
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact SDPD Detective David Kean at 619-527-3552.
