NJ Has 4th False-Alarm Child-Luring Report in Just Two Weeks

PRINCETON — Another child luring report has turned out to be nothing.

Borough police said Wednesday that two reports of a stranger approaching teen girls last week were in fact not luring or a crime.

The announcement comes after Toms River police notified the public that two reports of attempted child lurings in their township on Saturday turned out to be misunderstandings.

Police in both municipalities, however, said the children did the right thing in reporting their concerns to family and police.

Elsewhere in the state, police in Atlantic County are investigating a 17-year-old girl's report of an attempted abduction Tuesday afternoon in Galloway. The girl told police that a van approached her, honked its horn, came to a stop and the driver got out. The girl ran to a nearby home and called her parents, police said.

In Princeton, the mother of two 16-year-old girls told police that her daughters had been approached by a man on the afternoon of Sept. 24 and again on the afternoon of Sept. 27.

The girls said that the man had asked for their names and offered to drive them, police said.

Police notified the community through a Nixle alert.

Police on Wednesday said that investigators with the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office found the vehicle and questioned the "person of interest." They determined that "there was no intent to lure or harm the children involved. Subsequently, no criminal charges are filed at this time," police said in a statement.

In Toms River, police had said that two children were approached Saturday afternoon by a man within a block of each other.

"The person of interest has been identified and interviewed along with members of his family," Toms River police said in a statement on Monday. "It has been determined that there was no criminal intent to lure or cause any harm to the children."

Toms River police added that the "children acted appropriately, doing exactly what they should have done when approached by a stranger. We commend them for their actions and their parents for alerting authorities."

Princeton Police Chief Nicholas Sutter also commended the children "for walking away from the situations and for reporting the incidents to their mother, who notified our department."

Princeton said it would continue to provide extra patrols in the area despite there being no threat.

"The safety of our children and the community will remain our paramount concern," Sutter said.

Sergio Bichao is deputy digital editor at New Jersey 101.5. Send him news tips: Call 609-359-5348 or email sergio.bichao@townsquaremedia.com.