WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Officials with the Prince William County Police Department said a man believed to be in his 30s attempted to pay several young girls to get inside his vehicle as they walked to and from school just last week, on Sept. 30.
According to police, a man in a newer-model Subaru Forester approached multiple girls in the area of Rippon Middle School in Woodbridge by pulling up alongside them and offering them money to get inside his vehicle as they walked to and from school.
Police said none of the girls got inside the car, but parents in the area said they are terrified at the idea one of them could have.
“It scares the hell out of you and to hear that that happened was just, I don't know, it's an awakening, definitely an awakening," Brian McCutcheon, a Woodbridge father of a 9-year-old girl said. "I can't turn my back for a minute. It's kind of like we’re going and watching a one-year-old now, you just can't turn your back.”
McCutcheon said several parents he's talked to are scared to death over the encounters.
"A precedent has been made where you can't even let your children go and get the mail in the front of their own house for fear of somebody pulling up or whatever and saying, hey come on for a minute. I can't take that chance anymore," McCutcheon said.
Anyone with information regarding these incidents is asked to contact the Prince William County Police Department tipline at 703-792-7000 or by submitting a tip online to pwcva.gov/police tip.