Children have reported troubling encounters with an unknown man six times in Northeast Philadelphia this week, prompting a police investigation. In several of the cases, the man tried to lure children into a vehicle, police said. Police released a photo of the vehicle they believed was the suspect's Friday night.
Of the six incidents reported since Tuesday, three occurred within an hour of each other.
Details of the incidents being investigated by the Special Victims Unit were detailed in a news release Friday afternoon.
The first was reported Tuesday along along the 400 block of Tomlinson Road. At 3:15 p.m. students reported being approached by a man in a vehicle while leaving school. They said the man offered them money to get into the car, but they ran away.
On Wednesday, two students of the Watson Comly School on Byberry Road reported to school workers around lunchtime that they saw a suspicious man dressed in a mask and dark clothing outside of the school.
On Thursday a student at the Sullivan School on Ditman Street reported seeing a strange man recording students from outside the schoolyard.
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And on Friday morning, three incidents were reported within an hour and within a mile of each other.
In all of the incidents Friday morning, girls reported they were approached by a man in a dark vehicle with tinted windows asking them to take their photo for cash. One girl reported the man got out of his car and was unzipping his pants.
All of the girls were able to run away and report the incidents to school officials.
The students all described the man they reported as Hispanicand in his 30s. Police said they were investigating the incidents as a pattern based on the description of the offender, geographic proximity and his suspicious actions.
