Child approached at L-K football game
By Shawn Larson
After the football game Friday, a young girl approached her dad about an incident that happened earlier in the night. According to the report, while the mother was in the restroom at the Linden-Kildare football game when a man in his 20’s approached a young girl offering a sucker if she would go with him. The girl declined, and the man followed but left when she got close to a police officer. Eric Bond, who originally posted the story on social media as a warning to other parents, said in an interview with the Journal-Sun that “even in small towns like ours we need to be alert.”
In the original post, Bond, the parent of a girl that was with the girl that was approached, and witnessed the man said, “I was working the chains at the Linden Kildare football game tonight. After the game, my 11-year-old daughter and some of her friends told me that there was a white male, possibly in his twenties who had approached one of the little girls standing outside the bathroom while her mother was inside the bathroom and asked her if she wanted some candy If so, to come with him. She, fortunately, said no, and the girls started to walk away, and the man started to follow them. They walked over towards a cop, and he turned and bolted. Folks, this is our small hometown. These things aren’t supposed to happen here. This just goes to show you there is evil everywhere! Keep your eyes open and your kids close. Watch out for other kids from our community. We have to protect our children. Lord help this guy if I catch him!!”
In an interview on Sunday with the Journal- Sun said that according to his daughter the man had dark hair but could not remember any other distinguishing marks or features, other than he was a white male in his 20’s and wore a dark hoody and jeans The Journal-Sun reached out to superintendent Keri Winters who said that as of Monday morning the incident had not directly been reported to her or the police, but that there was plenty of staff and police at the game to help keep the fans and students secure, which goes along with the story that there was an officer in arms reach. A similar incident happened at a Dallas Mavericks game on April 8, of this year, but in contrast, the 15-year-old girl went willingly with the individual and ended up taken to Oklahoma City as a human trafficking scheme. Thankfully the girl was found alive, but in rough shape. On April 18, Oklahoma City police located the girl near the area of SW 15 and Westwood Boulevard. According to the cseinsituteoflaw.com eight were arrested in the scheme, “While attending a Mavericks game on April 8, 2022, with her stepfather, a fifteen-year-old girl went to the bathroom and never returned.
Her stepfather immediately reported her disappearance to arena security and Dallas police officers. According to a spokesman for Dallas Police Department, they did not fully investigate because Texas Family Code Laws “dictates that missing juveniles are investigated as runaways unless there are circumstances which appear as involuntary, such as kidnapping or abduction.” Notably, the minor was seen leaving the arena with an unidentified man.
“After she had been missing for six days, the minor victim’s family then contacted the Texas Counter-Trafficking Initiative (TxCTI). The TxCTI located the minor victim after discovering alleged nude images of her on an online prostitution advertisement in Oklahoma City. On April 15, Oklahoma City police initially searched rooms in an Extended Stay America hotel. The minor victim was found a few days later on April 18, 2022, walking on the side of the road with another individual in Oklahoma City. After an investigation, police made eight arrests that were connected to this case.”
According to the department of homeland security’s website, human traffickers prey in places like these: SOCIAL MEDIA/ONLINE Targeting youth online has become an increasingly common tactic among traffickers. They will look for vulnerable young people who are receptive to their advances.
POPULAR MEETING PLACES Locations where youth may frequent such as malls, parks, (football games), concerts, community centers, public transit centers, house gatherings, etc.
SCHOOLS To potentially identify and intersect vulnerable students. Peer-to-peer recruitment may take place in schools. This is when traffickers coerce or force their victims into recruiting their peers with promises of more payment, better status, or less abuse.
GROUP HOMES/SHELTERS Traffickers know that individuals at these locations are experiencing hardship and they can play to those challenges by offering financial or emotional support to gain trust.
Don’t talk to strangers; Don’t take anything from strangers; Don’t go anywhere with someone you don’t know; Stay more than an arm’s reach from strangers. If you are approached by a stranger, seek help immediately; Trust your instincts, if you feel you are being followed or something is not right, seek help immediately; Use the buddy system, avoid walking anywhere alone; Review contact telephone numbers and home safety practices; When seeking help, always go to a trusted adult – teacher, coach, police officer, other parent, or older siblings; If a stranger grabs you, do everything you can to stop him or her from pulling you away. Drop to the ground, kick, hit, bite, and scream. Do whatever it takes to attract the attention of others who can help you. If someone is dragging you away, scream, “this is not my dad,” or ‘this is not my mom.’ And report any suspicious activity to your local school and police department.
Publishers Note: It should be noted that sexual predators are everywhere, even in small towns. Being careful and smart, not fearful will help make sure the people in our community are safe.