Monday, April 20, 2009

Stranger Danger

We had an incident happen last week. It really threw me for a loop and I haven't felt much like blogging lately.
I had 4 kids all under the age of 5 playing in my fenced backyard. I was on the deck watering my plants, supervising, directing them to play nice, take turns blah, blah blah....
I was waiting to hear from the other two kids' mom, a friend of mine who went into pre term labor. Ray was home this day and yelled out to me that my cell phone was ringing. I ran inside to grab it, spoke with her for a little over a minute (she did not have the baby at that point) and returned out back onto the deck. I immed. see a car parked behind our fence and a man crouching and peeking behind our fence. Just so happens, Marina's back is against the fence on the inside, about 1 foot from where the man is standing on the other side. I FREAKED and yelled to Marina to get away from the fence! The man retreated and got back into his car and drive off.  She was so close to getting snatched over that fence, it was insane. I ran inside to Ray and told him to come quick. He ran onto the deck and watched the car pull off. I told him what happened and he jumped into our car and headed after him. 
He followed him for some time, observing him slowing down to look at young girls, making uncessary U turns, with basically no real driving pattern or destination. The man pulled into a strip mall and tried the doors to a Dance/Ballet studio but they were locked. He drove around for a bit more and then pulled into a plant nursery. Ray parked next to him and looked over into his car and saw stuffed animals and a suitcase in the backseat. 
He confronted the man and asked him what he was doing behind our fence. The man stated his was "taking a piss" however there is a port-a-potty 30 yards from my fence for the ballfields, that he had to pass on the way in and on the way out.
We ended up calling our local police (Pedophile Unit) and gave them our story, along with the guys tag number. The Detective said that lots of times, predators often give that same excuse in case they are ever caught "redhanded" if you will. DISTURBING! We learned he was not a registered sex offender and he does not live in this area. I feel good that at least we started a paper trail on him. 
We have been laying very low this past week and have been watching the kids like HAWKS. My friend had her baby yesterday and we are so happy for her.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is so scary!! I give your hubby a high five for following him and confronting him. That is just FRIGHTENING!! He was looking for trouble!! I got shivers down my spine.

Jen said...

I am so sorry that happened! You're a great mom though, so you were watching the kids just like you should! Good for Ray for standing up for his family and thanks to both of you for contacting the police. Even though we don't live close, we're all in this together! And I totally understand the feeling to not blog after that! I'm glad all is well.

Island Mama said...

OMG! I'm surprised Ray didn't shot his ass!!! LOL That is soooo scary! I'm almost in tears and my heart is RACING!!! Good thing you reported it though.Tonight i'm praying for ALL children!

Deb said...

That is so scary. People are just so crazy. I am so glad all the kids are okay. I always wondered if I was being too paranoid about strangers and now I know I am not.