Abduction attempt suspected

9/17/2010

TEMPERANCE - Monroe County sheriff's deputies are looking for a man who recently approached a Temperance girl asking for help finding his lost pet because her family said it appeared he was trying to lure her into his vehicle.

Jennifer Heebsh, 40, told police she was in the backyard of her St. Anthony Road home when she heard a man speaking to her 5-year-old daughter about 7 p.m. Sept. 9.

When Ms. Heebsh entered her front yard, she saw a man in a late 1990s model teal green Ford Explorer parked in the street near her driveway. She heard him ask her daughter if she had seen his black dog.

When Ms. Heebsh called her daughter's name, the vehicle sped away eastbound toward Secor Road, according to a police report.

The suspect was described as a heavy-set white male between 50 and 55 years old with salt-and-pepper hair.

Bedford Township residents have reported similar incidents during the summer months this and last year in which a man that fits the driver's description in different vehicles approached other children, Sheriff's Detective Jeff Pauli said.

Though it remains unclear whether charges could be filed against the man who approached the girl, the incident should serve as a warning to area parents, authorities said.

"Be more aware of who's around, who's stopping, who's driving by," Detective Pauli said.