Alerts Issued in Wake of Failed Abduction

Los Angeles police and local schools issued alerts Thursday in response to an attempted abduction of a 15-year-old Canoga Park High School girl and three cases of “child annoyance” in the West Valley area.

All of the incidents involved teenage girls who were approached while walking to or from school, said LAPD Det. William Seeley.

“However, these [incidents] are spread out across a pretty widespread area, and we do not believe they are related,” he said. “We just want to err on the side of caution and urge parents and children to be aware when kids are going to and from school.”

Child annoyance is defined as an incident in which the offender approaches children in a threatening manner but does not touch them, Seeley said. “The three cases are relatively minor,” he said. “We are really concerned about the attempted abduction, however.”

The 15-year-old girl was approached on foot by an unidentified man about 7:30 a.m. May 16 at Shoup Avenue and Sherman Way while she was walking to school, Seeley said. The man grabbed her arm and dragged her about five feet before a car drove by, distracting him, and the girl was able to escape, he said.

All of the middle and high schools in the Canoga Park/El Camino/Taft cluster have been notified by police, he said. The Los Angeles Unified School District Police Department has been alerted as well, he said.

Principal Larry Higgins of Canoga Park High School said after receiving the LAPD bulletin that he would send parents a recorded message through the school’s computerized calling system.

“We are telling them that we have reports of people lurking around schools, and that we’re encouraging them to either transport their kids to school or have them walk in groups,” Higgins said.

Higgins said that after the attempted abduction, a statement was read to students by teachers, though the identity of the 10th-grader involved was protected.

“She is OK emotionally and physically,” Higgins said, adding that students and parents do not seem alarmed.

Police said the other three incidents occurred May 6 to 16 within an area encompassed by Canoga Park High School on the west and Etiwanda Avenue on the east. One involved a man masturbating in his car, the other two involved verbal harassment.

Seeley said police have not released descriptions of the suspects, but they are interviewing the victims and making composite sketches to determine whether the same person was involved.

“We have completely different vehicle descriptions in each case, which is why we believe at this point that they are not related,” he said.

Joe Luskin, administrator of the LAUSD’s Canoga Park/El Camino/Taft cluster, said he received the LAPD notice Thursday.

“We’ve put the information out to the schools, and the principals will decide how to notify the students and parents,” Luskin said.