May 24, 2007
A ten-year-old girl claimed she was approached by a stranger while playing tag with friends in her Pueblo, Colorado neighborhood. The incident happened at around 6:45 P.M., near East Seventh Street and Iola Avenue.

The girl said a white man with shoulder-length black hair pulled up and asked her if she needed a ride. The girl said no, but before driving off, the man then prodded, “Are you sure? I’ll give you $100 dollars?” The girl told police that the man drove a red minivan with “sparkles” allover it.

An APB was put out, and Sgt. Richard Lancendorfer spotted a van resembling the description given and performed a traffic stop. A witness identified the driver as the man who had offered to give her a ride, said officer Chad Garcia.

The driver claimed he had been in the area of the incident, and had stopped in the 700 block of Fourth Street to work on his van. The man claimed he never saw the children playing, only a juvenile boy who pulled out in front of him on a bicycle, Garcia said.

Police took photographs of the suspect and the van, and the man allowed police to search the vehicle. Inside they found a small amount of marijuana and a pipe. The man admitted the pot and pipe were his, and police confiscated the items. The case was forwarded to the district attorney’s office for possible charges.