Report of attempted abduction still under review

Deputies still investigating report of abduction attempt

By Times Staff
Published June 10, 2005

WESLEY CHAPEL - Three dozen tips have come in to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office since the report of a suspicious person who tried to abduct a child Tuesday afternoon, but deputies had no new information to report Thursdayafternoon.

Pasco County sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin did not elaborate on the tips and said the investigation into the incident on Wrencrest Drive in Wesley Chapel continued.

Police also have continued to increase patrols in the area and have access inside the gated Wrencrest neighborhood, Tobin said.

A 13-year-old boy told deputies that a red-haired white male, about 5 feet 8 to 5 feet 10 and weighing between 225 to 250 pounds, offered him a ride as he was walking home from a school bus stop in the Meadow Pointe community between 12:30 and 12:45 p.m. Wednesday. When the boy refused, the man got out of his black Ford F-150 Longbed pickup with a black camper shell and dark tinted windows and tried to follow the running boy.

But the boy, a Weightman Middle School student, escaped unharmed, deputies said. The suspect then fled the area.

[Last modified June 10, 2005, 01:11:19]