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Mother warns parents about suspicious incident at MLK Park involving boy, parked car

By Kelly Healey

stock photo

By Kelly Healey
A Winter Park mother posted to Facebook to warn parents of a suspicious incident at Martin Luther King Jr. Park on West Morse Boulevard last week, and now, the Winter Park Police Department is investigating.
In the post, the woman describes taking her 3-year-old daughter to the park where she noticed a parked car that was running while a man sat inside. She assumed the man was just watching his child from the car. 
“(I) didn’t think anything of it, besides lazy parenting. Hey, it’s hot out. I get it,” she wrote in the post.

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However, the woman said she became wary when her daughter was approached on the playground by an older boy, possibly 8 or 10 years old, who was repeatedly trying to coax her away from the other children.
“He kept asking her how old she was, and when she responded, ‘I’m three,’ he replied, ‘Oh, that’s good.’ My red flags immediately went up,” she wrote in the post.
The woman wrote that she watched the boy leave the play area and walk toward the bathrooms, which have an exit to the parking area, while trying to hold her daughter’s hand. The woman said she began to make her way toward them when the boy touched her daughter’s hand and said, “Tag, you’re it! Come get me,” as he ran toward the car she noticed earlier.
“I bolted, screaming my daughter’s name, just as she turned around to see me. The boy jumped in that same car and left,” the woman wrote.
The woman and her daughter left immediately, and she wrote that she wished she had taken a photo of the car or written down its license plate.

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“If I had been on my phone (which I’ve been guilty of in the Past) and not paying attention to her or her surroundings, yesterday could have ended much, much worse,” she wrote. “Hold on to those babies. Never take your eyes off of them.”
The Winter Park Police Department said the man is described as middle-aged, white, with a buzz cut and wearing dark sunglasses. The vehicle is a dark-colored sedan, possibly an Acura, with dark tinted windows.    
“As a reminder, please always be aware of your surroundings, and if you observe any suspicious persons or vehicle, contact the police immediately,” police said.

"Attention" This incident is currently being investigated by the Winter Park Police. The suspected driver is a middle...

Posted by Winter Park Police Department on Tuesday, July 10, 2018

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