Algonquin girl told 'get in the van'; suspects match Jan. 3 attempt
For the second time this month and the third time in 14 months, a white van with two men inside tried to lure an Algonquin Middle School student from a bus stop, officials say.
A 13-year-old girl was approached by two Hispanic men in the white conversion van with no commercial markings or side windows at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in a subdivision just north of County Line Road near Route 25.
The driver of the vehicle was described as having brown hair, a thin mustache and was wearing a purple sweatshirt. The passenger had brown hair, a goatee and was also wearing a purple sweatshirt, police said.
The girl, who was walking alone toward her bus stop, told the men she wasn't supposed to go with strangers, but they became forceful and said “get in the van,” said District 300 Safety Officer Gary Chester.
The girl took off running and found a woman walking a dog nearby, who called police, but the van had sped off, Chester said.
The attempted abduction occurred in the neighborhood about a mile north of where a similar attempt occurred at a bus stop on Jan. 3 in the Silverstone neighborhood. On that Tuesday, two men, with descriptions matching the suspects in Tuesday's attempt, approached a sixth-grade boy and attempted to lure him into a white conversion van.
“The vehicle matches. The descriptions of the two Hispanic males match,” Chester said Tuesday afternoon. “We are looking at it as the same vehicle, the same suspects.”
The attempted abduction on Jan. 3 in the nearby Carpentersville neighborhood was the second attempt at that exact location in a little over a year by suspects who also matched the description of this Tuesday's attempt, Chester said.
On that date in November 2010, two Hispanic men in a white van approached a student at the bus stop, and the driver got out of the vehicle and approached a student, according to school district officials.
The Algonquin and Carpentersville police departments are working together in the investigation because, although the two attempts this January were near each other, they were in neighboring jurisdictions.
Community Unit District 300 sent a message to district principals describing the attempted abduction, and it is up to those principals to decide on how to inform their school's parents and students, Chester said.
“We have asked parents to talk to their students about reinforcing stranger danger,” he said.
The district also notified the school bus company, who asked to tell their drivers to keep an eye out for any suspicious white vans or other vehicles, Chester said.