A Criminal Approached My Kids – Keep Your Kids Safe
I write this post to help other parents.
My kids were playing in our backyard yesterday. We have a wooden privacy fence and there are locks on the gates so no one can come in through the gate. So, we are doing all the right things to help keep them safe. I was watching through the back window as they played because my baby has an ear infection in both ears and can’t be out in the wind. I saw a hand come through the fence (in between the slats which are a few inches apart ) to pet our dog. We live in a friendly neighborhood and people frequently visit our dog at the fence. So, I thought nothing of it until I saw my two kids eagerly run to the hand. I jumped up and opened the back door and saw my kids talking to a man. I called them in and when I did the man didn’t say hi or acknowledge me at all, instead he said bye to my children and CALLED THEM BY NAME.
He didn’t touch my kids and talked to them a max of 30 sec before I intervened, but I used to work for CPS and my training told me that this man had bad intentions towards my kids. The two red flags: 1) He was friendly with my kids, but not with me and 2) He used my childrens’ names over and over (this is called grooming, it builds familiarity so your children think he’s a friend).
Many parents would have left the incident at that and just kept a closer watch in the future. But, being a former CPS investigator, I knew this was a matter for the police. It’s far better to call BEFORE the perp does something to your kids. The police discovered this man lives in my neighborhood and is a career criminal. He has a record dating back to a juvenile record. He is NOT a registered sex offender, so a search on watchdog wouldn’t help here. So far he’s only been arrested for criminal trespass, DUI, and drug possession. But the police agreed with me that a grown man doesn’t need friends that are 2 years old and 4 years old. He had ill intentions towards my kids.
Parents let their kids as young as 5 years old ride their bikes and walk around in our neighborhood alone. We live in what people think is a safe neighborhood and this criminal lives 5 houses down from me.
This is just a reminder to really be very alert. If something doesn’t feel right about anyone in your neighborhood, then call the police. They really do care about creepy behavior and will patrol even if no crime was committed. If anyone seems suspicious call your local police nonemergency number.
To finish my story, the man talked to my kids for less than a minute, the time that it took me to get to the back door. My 4 year old told me he asked my 2 year old to come close to the fence so he could pick him up! He was going to reach over the fence and snatch my 2 year old. If I had been cooking or cleaning or otherwise distracted for just a minute, my 2 year old would be gone.
To all the parents…give your kiddos a big hug and a kiss today and keep them safe.
Hello, you visited my blog so I followed you back here to your website. This post is horrifying. My child is grown, but when he was a toddler and child, he was not out of my sight. When we went out in public, he used to run and hide from me, so I put a kid leash on him. Parents would be shocked, but I told them I only had one and wanted to keep him.
In Houston a young child went missing in a K-Mart. The mother noticed immediately and went to the front of the store to management. They locked the doors and searched the store. They found the child with a woman in the bathroom. That child was already dressed in different clothes, had a haircut and was fixing to get a haircut.
I think if he was small now, I would have a geo chip implanted in him. As they get older you can get them a cell phone with locater feature that tells you not only where the child is now, but also where they have been that day.
It is hard raising kids nowadays. I grew up in Houston and roamed at will because both my parents worked. I never had problems. Its a different world.
Oh my gosh – that gives me chills!! My youngest is now 10, but I was always so careful when they were little as I was terrified of something like that happening. Even now I don’t let me 10 year old play alone outside if no one can see her. I sometimes wondered if I was just being neurotic. Your story reminds me I was not.
Hello Fellow Squid,
I followed over here from your lenses.
That is pretty scary that for less than five minutes something could happen like that. It’s sad that you have to watch out for danger every second and your own backyard isn’t safe anymore.
Sounds like my perp neighbor, and the cops do nothing…