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September 5, 2009

Possible attempted kidnap at Pleasant Hill middle school: Walnut Creek students also to be warned

A student at Pleasant Hill Middle School on Thursday had apparently been listening to warnings about avoiding strange guys who claims to be emissaries for one's mother, offering to take him to her.

That's according to Patricia Wool, the superintendent for the Walnut Creek School District. She was passing along to parents in her school district a warning from Dick Niccol, her counterpart in the Mt. Diablo School District. Apparently, some man approached a student at Pleasant Hill Middle School at about 2:35 p.m. and offered to take him to his mother. The boy, using his wits, declined, and notified authorities.

Smart kid.

Here are more details about the strange guy from Wool's email, plus her advisory that principals would be talking to students to not talk to strangers.

That warning must have already taken place at Walnut Creek Middle School. My son, when I picked him up yesterday, mentioned something about this incident. He didn't know when or where it had happened, other than at a middle school. He was spot-on about the fact that the strange guy had used that age-old pervert ploy of "I'm going to take you to your mother."

Wool's note:

Dear Walnut Creek School Community,

I received an email from Dick Nicoll, Superintendent in Mt. Diablo School District, concerning a possible student abduction attempt at Pleasant Hill Middle School (next to the County library.) A man approached a male student in his PE clothes. He called to the student and said, "I need to show you the new meeting spot for your mom." The man was a white male with gray hair, grey mustache, and a thick accent. A woman, with a nose ring, was with the man. The boy walked away. The Pleasant Hill Police Department was informed. Principals will all be reminding students not to talk to strangers or go with strangers for any reasons. I wanted to ensure that all parents were aware of this
incident.

Sincerely,

Patricia Wool, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Walnut Creek School District

8 comments:

hapamama said...

My 12 year old (a 7th grader) mentioned that the school admin made the announcement on Friday during 7th period.

He (my kid) was concerned enough that he requested that his dad pick him up that day, since his route home involves walking down the Iron Horse trail.

Anonymous said...

I sent the story from Claycord.com on Thursday afternoon to Patricia Wool. So the mayor helped out once again!

Martha Ross said...

10:37 a.m. You're right. The Mayor originally had this story, and I thought I credited Claycord in this post, but going back and re-reading it, I see my little paragraph got edited out. Sorry about that Mayor.

Anonymous said...

another kid was approached by the same man with gray hair, in his 50's, today sept. 10 and im just really suprised that this has not been on the news

People against jail for weed said...

I heard there was another kidnapping attempt today, as we got a school from MDUSD to let us know. Scary stuff. Any more info would be appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Hello I am a mother of a girl who goes to John Muir Elem. In martinez. I am so scared that this man and woman are trying to copy cat the Jacey story. Last week I was waiting for my daughter to get out of school and there was a lady with no shoes on, chain smoking cause she seemed nervous like there was something wrong. I had informed her that there was no smoking on school grounds and she she replies to me that she was not on school grounds. She seemed to have some kind of mental problem, but what I am nervous about is with the current major kidnapping story in the news that all these mentally and the demented sick people are gonna try to copy cat. I have no idea if this woman has anything to do with anything, but as parents we need to keep our eyes open and look for things that seem out of place.

Anonymous said...

This was my nephew, who is 11 years old. We are so very proud of him for doing the right thing and knowing that something was not off. Just goes to show the importance of telling your kids what to do in this type of situation.
Keep your kids safe, this could have turned out to be very very bad for our family!

Anonymous said...

I am the parent of one of the students that was approached by this "suspicious" character. This has been a blessing and a curse at the same time. We are so thankful to still have our child with us but the aftermath has been one disappointment after another. The police did not respond with the urgency that this case deserved. The school security cameras were useless in identifying the suspect on campus. Only today are the police beginning to put together a sketch of this man from statements of the two boys involved. We have had police officers show up at our home un-announced at 9:00 AM Sunday morning to have our son view mug shots. They even went so far as to pull my child out of class to look at lineup photos without our consent. We were again visited at 10:00 PM on a school night to have us set up an appointment for the sketch artist. I thought that the Pleasant Hill Police Department would be a bit more professional about contacting us for additional information. Don't get me wrong, I want this person caught, but I am growing tired of unexpected and untimely correspondence. I pray that this is effective in the apprehension of this guy.