Island County Sheriff seeking driver of silver SUV
Published 3:38 pm Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Investigators are asking the public for help identifying a man in what they fear may have been a child abduction attempt on North Whidbey Monday afternoon.
A man in a silver SUV offered a 10-year-old girl a ride in a wooded, rural area, according to Undersheriff Kelly Mauck with the Island County Sheriff’s Office.
The girl was dropped off by a school bus in a rural area on Taylor Road at Sawmill Road at about 3 p.m.
She walked down Sawmill Road and came upon an SUV with tinted windows parked behind bushes on the side of the road.
The driver rolled down his window and asked if she wanted a ride home.
The girl ran away and heard the vehicle drive off. She went home, told her parents about the incident and they called police.
A deputy responded but was unable to locate the vehicle.
The driver is described as a white man with medium to dark brown hair and no facial hair.
Mauck said investigators want to identify the man, though he likely didn’t break the law by offering the girl a ride home.
He said the driver’s intentions may have been innocent, but his actions were not appropriate.
“It was definitely not what I would consider to be acceptable behavior,” he said.
If anyone person has information about this incident, they can contact Detective Rick Felici with the Island County Sheriff’s Office at 360-678-4422 or by calling I-COM Dispatch at 360-678-6116.
