Two suspicious incidents involving children in Townsite have Powell River RCMP on the search for a pair of suspects.
Two separate groups of children in the historic Powell River neighbourhood made reports to police about an abduction attempt on Wednesday, July 6, and indecent exposure on Sunday, July 3.
The abduction attempt reportedly took place Wednesday near the corner of Ash and Marine avenues at approximately 5:30 pm when a male in a pickup truck approached two boys, aged 12 and eight, and asked the eight year old to enter his truck. The suspect is described as approximately 60 years old with light or grey hair.
The indecent exposure reportedly took place at approximately 3:20 pm Sunday when a male exposed his genitals to three children, ages four, seven and nine, in Henderson Park at the corner of Ash Avenue and Oak Street. The suspect is described as being in his 30s to 40s with a slim build and collar-length, blond, curly hair.
"Police are looking into possible links," said Powell River RCMP sergeant Kevin Day. "The location of the two incidents is fairly close by and in a fairly close period of time. Other than that, we haven't gotten any evidence to support a link yet. So we're just looking at the possibilities, and not ruling it out."
Both descriptions provided by the children to police and later revealed in media releases were very specific.
In the case of the abduction attempt, the suspect is described as caucasian with tattoos on his arms, wearing a Superman T-shirt, light blue jeans, black running shoes, a blue baseball hat and sunglasses. His truck is described as an older model, dark grey Toyota 4x4 with matching canopy.
In the case of the indecent exposure, the suspect was described as clean shaven with freckles and two big front teeth, wearing a blue button-up or zipper shirt open at the chest, short shorts, white boots with black laces and a dark baseball hat.
"We got as much information as we could, in the latest instance from the young males, and through the course of investigation that is what we revealed as the descriptions," said Day.
Day said police are providing support services for the children. "The kids were quite upset and we have our RCMP Victim Services helping them in that regard," he said.
Day said police are actively investigating both cases for any potential leads and are asking public to contact them with any information.
"Our plain-clothes officers are working on it full time right now and are taking several investigational steps," said Day. "We are also putting it out to the community in hopes that someone, somewhere has seen someone matching the descriptions and hopefully that will aid in our investigation."
Of special interest to police is a man who was walking his dog on Ash Avenue who the young boys claim they spoke to about the incident. This was shortly before they encountered police who happened to be conducting a traffic stop nearby.
Anyone with information about these incidents is asked to contact Powell River RCMP at 604.485.6255, or anonymously through Crimestoppers at 1.800.222.TIPS.
