Police and school officials are urging parents and children to be extra cautious after several suspicious incidents occurred over the past few weeks in the area.
‘We’ve increased our patrols by threefold during the time kids are waiting for the bus before school, with marked and unmarked cars,? said Genesee County Sheriff’s Department Captain Chris Swanson. ‘We encourage parents to be more involved in waiting for their kids when they get off the bus and assigning someone at the bus during the morning when kids are waiting to be picked up.?
The warnings come after several incidents that Swanson said began about two weeks ago when police were notified of a caucasian male in a white van that was behaving oddly around bus stops and children in Davison and Richfield Township. Shortly after these reports came in, police were called by a Goodrich Schools bus driver who observed a white van closely following her bus during her morning route.
Police received a second 9-1-1 call from Atlas Township on Tuesday morning, at about 8 a.m., when a woman called to say a man in a white van was driving slowly on Cathy Drive, off of M-15 south of Goodrich, looking intently at children waiting for the bus. The man then followed the bus out of the subdivision.
‘It was enough to raise the hair on the mother’s neck,? said Swanson. ‘I’m confident the reports are credible.?
The van is described as a white, full-sized utility van with rust along the bottom, no side windows or markings, tinted back and driver’s windows, and possibly a top rack. The driver of the van was described as a slim, caucasian male wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt with another coat over it.
Children were kept inside for recess at the elementary schools on Tuesday and a letter from Goodrich Middle School Principal Jerry Lawrason was sent home to parents advising parents to call 9-1-1 immediately if they spot a van matching the suspect vehicle’s description.
A van eerily similar in description was involved in what may have been a foiled abduction in Groveland Township on March 20. According to Michigan State Police reports from the Groveland Post, a woman and her 13-year-old daughter were jogging/walking at about 11:20 p.m. that evening in the Oak Hill Estates mobile home park.
The pair were in the 16000 block of N. Kimberly Drive when a 4-door white sedan slowly passed them and stopped. A white, full-sized van trailing the car also stopped on the right side of the road, a short distance back in shadows. In the sedan was a single white male and the van appeared to be occupied by two males, although she couldn’t make out any details.
The daughter was in the light, only a few feet ahead of her mother, still concealed by shadows when the suspect in the sedan parked, got out of the vehicle and asked the girl if she had lost her dog. The mother, recognizing the danger of the situation, screamed and told her daughter to run.
The suspect, she said, hesitated and seemed startled. As the mother and daughter fled, the suspect returned to his vehicle, accelerated and began paralleling their direction as they ran between mobile homes. The van paralleled their direction on the opposite side, as the victims ran from trailer to trailer and across a common area until they reached their own home.
The woman said the vehicles made two or three circuits and another three circuits after they were safely inside their home. The suspect from the sedan was described as a white male, about 5?11,? with a medium build, long scraggily blond or light brown hair, with an unshaven goatee, wearing a orange/red flannel shirt and blue jeans. The artist sketch of this person is on page 1.
The sedan had rust above the rear driver side wheel. The van had no side windows, black trim on the bottom and a black luggage or ladder rack on top.
Swanson said he wouldn’t deny a connection between the van in the Groveland incident and the one spotted in Atlas.
‘I don’t believe in coincidences when it comes to police work,? said Swanson, who noted the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department is working in conjunction with Michigan State Police.
MSP Detective Gary Muir said one person of interest in the Groveland case has been questioned, but had an alibi and has been released.
Both MSP troopers and Genesee deputies continue to investigate and encourage anyone seeing suspicious behavior to immediately call 9-1-1.