Police and parents are on high alert after an unknown man tried to lure a child away from an athletic field in the Aldino area of Harford County Saturday, police said.
Around 4 p.m. Saturday, a woman saw her 5-year-old son walking with a man she didn't know away from the Carsins Run Sports Field in the 500 block of Carsins Run Road, according to Monica Worrell, public information officer with the Harford County Sheriff's Office.
The sports field is in a mostly rural area between Churchville and Aberdeen.
The man was walking with the boy toward a nearby cornfield. When the mother called out for her son, the man entered the cornfield and disappeared, according to Worrell.
The boy told his mom that the man asked him to help find something that was lost, Worrell said.
None of the other parents at the athletic field knew the man.
The man is described a white, about 45 to 50 years old. He was about 5 feet, 7 inches to 5 feet, 9 inches tall with short dark hair, a weathered face and a scruffy, salt and pepper beard.
He was wearing a green baseball cap, gray hooded sweatshirt with no zipper, khaki shorts and sneakers.
The sheriff's office urges parents to remain aware of surroundings and people who may be out of place at sporting and other outdoor events, Worrell said. Police also encourage parents to make their children aware of the dangers of following or talking to strangers.