Mother reports man’s attempt to abduct son
By Staff
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a report of a man who tried to persuade and then coerce a local boy into his van Monday morning outside a market in Santa Ynez.
Department spokesman Drew Sugars said Tuesday that he couldn’t release any more information until the investigation had gone farther.
In an e-mail message that circulated Monday around the Valley, the boy’s mother warned her friends about the man and described what her son had told her.
According to the e-mail, the suspect asked the boy to get into his van to watch videos and “party,” and when the boy refused and tried to step around the suspect, he told the boy he would give him a brand new iPhone if he would go with him.
The boy’s cap included the name of a religious organization, and the man allegedly also told the boy that he had been praying for a new friend and would like to go to church and pray with him.
As the boy tried to walk away, the suspect stepped behind him and wrapped his arms around the boy’s mid-section, but the boy got away and phoned his mother, then waited at a nearby business.
The description circulated by the mother was of a man in his mid-40s, bald and clean-shaven, driving a newer-looking van.
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