District 300, police warn parents of third Stranger Danger case in Algonquin

Community Unit District 300 and Algonquin police are alerting parents to another report of a stranger approaching students.

A news release Wednesday from the Algonquin Police Department said a 10-year-old boy was approached by a man in a white E-series Ford van as he walked home from a friend's house Tuesday afternoon in the Algonquin Lakes subdivision. The suspect in Tuesday's case is described as a Hispanic man between 30 and 35 years old.

“The community and schools in the area are on a heightened level of security and the police department has increased patrols throughout the area,” Deputy Chief Steve Kuzynowski said in a news release. “The investigation is ongoing and the police department encourages the community to be alert.”

Tuesday's report was the third case of a stranger or strangers approaching a child in the area in the past month. A student was approached by two Hispanic men in a white Chevrolet Astro van on Jan. 17. In that case, a 12-year-old Algonquin Middle School student was walking to her bus stop in a subdivision just north of County Line Road near Route 25. When one of the men told her to get into the vehicle, the girl took off running.

In early January, a sixth-grade student from Algonquin Middle School told Carpentersville police he was waiting alone at a bus stop in the Silverstone neighborhood when two Hispanic men in a white conversion van told him to get in the vehicle. The boy ran home and told his parents who immediately alerted police.

Kuzynowski said there have been no active attempts to grab or force a child into a vehicle.

Police are encouraging parents to review their safety plans with their children. Police are urging parents to reaffirm that a child should never get in any vehicle with an adult who is not their parent unless it is prearranged as part of their safety plan.