By: Las Vegas Now Staff
Local police are searching for a sexual predator suspected of trying to abduct a child who was walking to school. Police tell Eyewitness News that there are nearly 20 cases of strangers approaching children in the past two months.
The child in this latest incident is okay. Her parents were at Monaco Middle School on Friday morning filling out a police report and talking with school officials. The school is located near Nellis and Lake Mead Blvd.
The child's mother, Nechelle Whitmore, says the suspect was not trying to hide what he was doing. She said he drove right up in front of the school and started to harass the 11-year-old girl.
“Raggedy truck and was riding beside her saying, 'Hey, I wanna talk to you.' She said, 'No thank you,” and kept stepping, and he was like, 'You think I want to hurt you or something?”
Whitmore won't speculate about why the man approached her daughter but she says her daughter did the right thing by running off and calling home.
Whitmore says she plans to pick her children up from school from now on.
Given the recent rash of cases involving strangers approaching children, schools have sent out letters to parents and police have stepped up patrols around schools. They are asking parents to call if they see anything suspicious.
