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Police to parents: 7 cases of suspicious strangers not related

The first report was startling enough to concern parents: A 10-year-old boy, walking to a school bus stop on Jan. 3 in Ellicott City, was approached by a man in a silver car who opened the passenger door and asked if he wanted a ride.

Word spread. Eyes opened. And other children soon came forward with more reports of suspicious vehicles — seven in total, dating from early December to early February.

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So it was not at all surprising that more than 70 parents, most with children at schools in Elkridge and Ellicott City, showed up at a Tuesday, Feb. 7 meeting to talk about the incidents with representatives of the Howard County Police Department, at Rockburn Elementary School in Elkridge.

"We'd heard a lot about incidents happening in the last few months," said John Hung of Ellicott City, whose children attend Worthington Elementary School. "We were scared for our children."

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The Jan. 3 incident at the intersection of Rockburn Drive and Sandstone Court turned out be innocuous, according to Howard County Police Capt. Dan Coon, commander of the department's northern district.

"We actually located the individual who offered him a ride, and it turns out the person was trying to do a nice thing," Coon said. The man in the car, he said, was a college student home on break and a neighbor of the boy, who saw the boy running to the bus stop and believed he was late for school.

Police have not yet found the people from the six other reported incidents, which occurred in Elkridge, Ellicott City and the Columbia village of Long Reach. Some reports mentioned silver vehicles, others a red van or minivan.

Some mentioned men inside the cars offering students a backpack, a lollipop or candy. Some had no contact with the children. The descriptions of the men varied.

"At this time, we don't think that any of these are related at all," Coon said. "We do not believe that there's a child abductor going around. The descriptions we're being given are not that similar."

Nevertheless, he said, police have sent out additional officers on patrol in the area at the times students are going to and leaving school, looking for suspicious vehicles, using electronic equipment to check if there are any common license plate numbers. Officers have interviewed residents and turned to the sex offender registry to see if anyone on it has vehicles matching the descriptions police received.

Bonita Linkins, a police department community resource officer, reminded parents of tips to give their children on dealing with strangers. But she also cautioned them that a majority of incidents in which children are hurt involve people the children know.

Tonya Sigalas, an Ellicott City resident whose childrenattend Ilchester Elementary and Bonnie Branch Middle schools, said she felt "a little bit more comfortable" knowing that the recent incidents are not thought to be related.

"I want to go home," she said, "and talk to my children more about what they need to do."

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