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Deputies: Girl lied about kidnap attempt

After two similar tales of a man trying to coerce kids into a van, Wesley Chapel parents have been on alert. But one "victim" recants.

By GINA PACE
Published August 27, 2006

WESLEY CHAPEL - An 11-year-old girl who said a black man tried to coerce her into his van early this week made the story up, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said Thursday.

During an interview with detectives, the student at Dr. John Long Middle School in Wesley Chapel admitted that she lied, the Sheriff's Office said.

The girl had told authorities Tuesday that a man tried to get her to get into his white van after she got off the school bus at her stop.

When she refused, the man followed her home and knocked on her window, she had said.

The story echoed a similar report one week earlier.

Another John Long student, a 12-year-old boy, told authorities Aug. 15 that a man in a ski mask jumped out of a white minivan and tried to kidnap him near Tangledvine and County Line roads as he biked to school early that morning.

Authorities are still investigating that case.

The reports triggered alarm among Meadow Pointe residents this week.

Parents were keeping a close watch on their kids, forbidding them from walking alone and riding their bikes to school. Officials at John Long Middle and nearby Sand Pine Elementary sent letters home to parents, encouraging caution.

The Sheriff's Office had beefed up patrols. Cruisers could be seen near the schools and along County Line Road, where the attempted abductions were said to have occurred.

But after the girl's admission Thursday, sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said elevated patrols would probably be scaled back.

"We have to investigate these reports, always have to err on side of public safety," Doll said.

"From time to time ... we do get copycat reports. We still have to err on the side of caution due to public safety."

Authorities don't think the girl and the boy who reported the first attempted abduction had classes together or the same lunch period, Doll said. They don't know why she made up the story, and there were no plans to file charges for the false report.

[Last modified August 27, 2006, 06:43:21]