Algonquin police have increased patrols after a second alleged child abduction attempt occurred within village limits, the fourth such incident in the far northwest suburbs in a little less than a month.
A 10-year-old boy was reportedly walking home Tuesday from a friend’s house in the Algonquin Lakes subdivision at around 3:45 p.m. when he was approached by man driving a white van, according to authorities. The man reportedly asked the boy to get in his vehicle.
The man was 30 to 35 years old, and the vehicle was described as a white Ford E-Series van.
Two incidents were reported in early January, with similar descriptions of the driver and vehicle, and in all the alleged incidents, the children were walking alone.
A 13-year-old Algonquin Middle School student was walking to her bus stop at around 9:30 a.m. Jan. 17 when two men approached and told her to get into a white van, according to police. The girl refused, at which time the driver became more forceful, verbally demanding she get in the vehicle.
Two weeks earlier, an 11-year-old boy was at a Carpentersville bus stop near Flagstone Drive in the Silverstone Subdivision at around 8 a.m. Jan. 3 when a white van occupied by two men stopped and asked him to get into the vehicle, police said.
Of the two reports in Algonquin, one vehicle is described as a white Chevrolet Astro Van and the other a white Ford E-Series van, both without markings or signage.
There was no active attempt to grab or force a child into a vehicle in either incident, police said.
Law enforcement officials are encouraging all parents to review a safety plan with their children, and area schools have been put on alert.
In what Barrington police call an unrelated case, a 13-year-old girl was walking home from a school bus stop at Dundee Avenue and Lake Street at around 3:30 p.m. Jan. 20 when a man driving an older model, dark-colored van made a U-turn and stopped in the street to talk to her, according to the Barrington Police Department. He then offered the girl a ride home or wherever she wanted to go.
The man is described as 40 to 50 years old, of heavy build, with white hair and a beard.
The investigations are ongoing.
