Minnetonka Schools Caution Parents After Recent Child Luring Attempts

Local law enforcement and school district officials are urging area parents to be on high alert after a series of recent child abduction attempts.

In an email sent out to parents of children in Minnetonka schools on Thursday evening, school officials said, “In recent weeks, west metro community police departments have received reports of suspicious adults approaching children…We encourage all parents to talk with their child about personal safety and what to do if approached by an adult.”

The latest incident happened Sunday morning just southwest of Lake Minnetonka in Victoria. A 10-year-old boy says he was chased by a stranger. The boy told deputies the man didn't speak to him but chased him for about 30 feet, before the boy managed to reach the home of a nearby resident, who let him in and called his parents. The suspect fled and hasn't been identified or found.

The Carver County Sheriff’s Office describes the suspect as a white male, around 5’8” tall, roughly 170-180 pounds, white/grey hair, slightly balding, with a beard and wearing a long sleeve t-shirt.

Sunday’s episode comes on the heels of several similar occurrences in the west metro. In late March, a man used candy to lure a child from near the intersection of Stratford and Ashcroft Roads in Minnetonka. A week later, a similar incident occurred in Brooklyn Center. And in late April, a Wayzata elementary school student said a man approached him, and asked him to get into his vehicle. In all three cases, the reported perpetrator was a man driving a white cargo van. No children were injured.

More than 65 percent of all child abductions in the United States occur during spring and summer months, according to the Department of Justice. About 1.3 million children are reported missing each year in the United States, and just under 700,000 of those cases are entered into the nation's missing children database.