Orange County sheriff’s deputies Wednesday were looking for a suspect who tried to abduct an 11-year-old girl near a middle school in north Tustin.
The girl was walking her dog about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday near Salt Air Drive and Simon Ranch Road when a man in a white van tried to coax her into the vehicle, according to Orange County sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Hallock.
The driver asked the girl if she needed help with her dog, and when she said she did not, he grew more insistent and said, “Hey, get in the car,” according to Hallock. She ran away toward her home, he said.
The attempted abduction happened near Utt Middle School, where witnesses say they’ve seen the van recently, Hallock said.
The suspect is a Latino man who is about 30 years old and has a shaved head. He was wearing a blue windbreaker with a zipper and sunglasses. The van is possibly an early 2000 Chevrolet model with a “Quick Clean” logo and a recyclable water symbol with a blue raindrop on both sides, Hallock said.
The lettering for “Quick Clean” was peeling, he said.
— City News Service