SANTA CLARA – A misunderstanding possibly triggered by a language barrier may have been the root cause behind an accusation of attempted kidnapping Monday afternoon.
Capt. Jay Randall of Santa Clara/Ivins Public Safety said the incident took place in the front yard of a home on Swiss Haven Circle where a Red Cross table was set up to accept donations for recent flood victims. An adult and a 9-year-old girl were tending the table at the time. The adult left the table for a very short period, during which time a Hispanic male driving what has been described as a white pickup, stopped by the table and attempted to speak to the 9-year-old girl.
The child was unable to understand the man due to a language barrier, and directed him to speak to the adult who returned soon after, Randall said. It was at this point the male returned to his truck and drove away.
Though the incident is still under investigation, Randall said there was little evidence the man involved was attempting to kidnap the girl. “We don’t have anything to support it,” he said. Still, that possibility hasn’t been eliminated yet either, so “the goal is to exhaust that end.”
Police are looking for the individual involved in order to confirm whether or not the incident was a misunderstanding, or if there was foul intent.
Randall said Santa Clara residents could be particularly sensitive to potential incidents of kidnapping due to the three teenage boys charged with kidnapping a 14-year-old girl in May. He also pointed to an incident last week involving an attempted kidnapping call at Arrowhead Elementary that turned out to be a parent picking up a child.
“We do not have a problem with kidnappings in Santa Clara,” Randall said, yet added people still needed to “err on the side of caution.” If someone felt they were witnessing something suspicious, then by all means report it.
Santa Clara and Ivins are safe places to live, Randall said. If an attempted kidnapping had taken place, he said officers would be very proactive in searching for the suspect. Due to the incident, the police have already stepped up patrols around elementary schools in the area.
Even if Monday’s incident stemmed from a misunderstanding, Randall encourages the public to contact Santa Clara/Ivins Public Safety with any information pertaining to the identity of Hispanic male involved. He is not considered a suspect, Randall said, but is still someone the police would like to talk to. The lack of official suspect status is also a reason the police have not released a more detailed description of the man or his vehicle.
The family of the 9-year-old girl declined to comment on the incident.
Though potentially unrelated to what occurred in Santa Clara, Josie Jones, of St. George, said she had seen a man in a white pickup trying to talk to children near Sandstone Elementary. Though she did not see the man’s face, she described him as being either Hispanic or Native American in appearance. When the man noticed Jones approaching, she said he sped away.
Jones contacted the police and school officials about the matter. She said she had no no knowledge of the incident in Santa Clara until after speaking to the Santa Clara/Ivins Police.
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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2012, all rights reserved.
“He also pointed to an incident last week involving an attempted kidnapping call at Arrowhead Elementary that turned out to be a parent picking up a child.” That’s funny. “Oh crap, it’s mom, RUN!”
Murat, Not a bad attempt. Keep throwing out the lines. Might end up working…and it is a nice change.
I’m sick of all the paranoia about adults interacting children. I spray-painted “Free Candy” on my old van and give out tons of it to kids everywhere because I want to make the world a better place, and the response I get is always a bunch of alarmists calling the cops and parents yelling at me and saying I should know better. Kooks.
By the way, this was my attempt at being funny, but as usual, it fell flat.
You’re obviously asking for it, Murat, and you know it!
Seeing Santa Clara/Ivins police merged makes me wonder why St George police can’t just police the entire valley from Washington to Ivins, ya know, like a metro unit? I think it’s silly that there needs to be 3 different police departments in one area. I guess atleast SC/Ivins merged, perhaps that’s a sign of what’s to come.
Because the SGPD is big enough as it is, can you imagine them merging with the three police departments into one huge police department for the whole county? And still have a county sheriff? There are problems with a police department that is too large, and that includes aggressive policing.
Yeah, I guess Salt Lake County has it all wrong by having the Unified Police Department serving about a dozen different communities all across the valley (run by the Sheriff, aside from the cities that wanted to keep their own police). As I’m sure Ivins and Santa Clara figured out, it’s going to save money. Other than pride, I can’t imagine any reasons that Ivins, Santa Clara, St George, and Washington couldn’t combine forces. Hurricane is probably a little far to be included, and the Sheriff’s Dept has enough rural areas to worry about. A St George Metro PD would be more efficient and provide better services (forget about that “aggressive policing” BS). And just think, the next time Murat is cruising in his Candy van over near Santa Clara (but still in St George), he wouldn’t be able to taunt the Santa Clara police just across the border.
Exactly, Mike, the county sheriffs would be policing all areas outside suburban St George. With growth, Hurricane will be connecting with Washington’s eastside which will eventually make the area like a smaller scale Wasatch Front as in every city will be interconnected creating one constant urban area from Ivins to LaVerkin. Hopefully we’ll have reliable public transit covering the metropolis, and more experienced leaders in local government for sure, but that’s a whole different story .