Deputies in Collier County are investigating a report of a man in a silver sedan targeting a 10-year-old boy near a bus stop.
"He said the guy asked him to get into the car," the boy's mother, who asked not to be identified, told Fox 4.
She said his school bus dropped him off early, before his grandmother could meet him, so he began walking home alone along Tropicana Boulevard. As he approached 30th Place Southwest, the boy told deputies that a man in a silver sedan with a Florida license tag called out to him to get in the car.
The Collier County Sheriff's Office released two composite sketches of the suspect based on a description given by the boy, who said the man is possibly Hispanic, and short with a muscular build.
He said the man initially wore a blue bandanna over the lower half of his face, but lifted it as he spoke to the boy.
"He kept walking, but he was looking back constantly," his mother said. "He said he heard the guy open the door and get out of the car. So that's when he started running."
Deputies have determined that a similar incident reported last week, by another 10-year-old who was riding his bike to Golden Terrace Elementary North in Golden Gate, was due to a man asking directions to the school in order to drop off a child.
In a statement Tuesday, Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk wrote, "CCSO will continue to investigate all suspicious encounters and partner with the community as appropriate to determine if there was criminal intent."
The mother of the boy involved in the latest incident said her son went to school Tuesday.
"He said he didn't want to walk home," she said. "He's scared, he's terrified. I said, 'you're not going to walk home. I'll be there early, I'll be there every single day.'"
Anyone with any knowledge of the incident is asked to call the Collier County Sheriff's Office at 239-252-9300, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS.
