Philadelphia Police: 6 suspicious incidents involving children

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Saturday, September 16, 2017
Philly Police: 6 suspicious incidents involving children
Philly Police: 6 suspicious incidents involving children. Trish Hartman reports during Action News at 11 p.m. on September 15, 2017.

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia police are investigating six suspicious incidents involving children since Tuesday afternoon.

Three of those incidents happened within one hour of each other on Friday, and released a photo of a vehicle that may be involved.

The first incident on Friday happened around 8 a.m. in the 4900 block of Ditman Street. Police say a man pulled up next to a 10-year-old girl, showed her money and a camera, and asked if he could take her photo. The girl ran to school and told an adult what happened.

The suspect was described as a Hispanic male with black hair, and a beard wearing a black shirt. He was driving a black car with black tinted windows.

The second incident happened around 8:10 a.m. in the 5300 block of Jackson Street. Police say the man also showed this girl money and a camera and asked to take her photo. The girl ran to Sullivan Elementary School and told an adult.

The suspect was described as a white male, 30-40 years old, with a beard and a mustache. He was wearing a black t-shirt and drove a black car with heavy tint on the windows.

The third Friday morning incident happened around 8:45 a.m. in the 5300 block of Gillespie Street. In this incident, police say a man pulled up next to a 10-year-old girl and told her to come over to his car. Police say that's when the man started unzipping his pants. The girl ran to her school and told an adult.

The suspect in this incident was described as a white male between 30 and 40 years old with green eyes wearing a black shirt, black boots and jeans. The man had no facial hair or glasses and was bald on top of his head with black hair on the sides.

The Thursday incident happened around 8 a.m. at the Sullivan School in the 5300 block of Ditman Street. In that case, a student reportedly saw a man taking pictures and recording children who were in a school yard.

That man is described as a Hispanic male with a beard wearing a light green shirt.

On Wednesday, two students from the Watson Comly School told staffers they saw a man standing outside the school with a mask and dark clothing. The man didn't do anything, police say, but the children considered him to be suspicious.

There was no further description of the man.

On Tuesday, several students told police they were leaving school around 3:15 p.m. in the 400 block of Tomlinson Road when they were approached by a Hispanic male in a black vehicle. The students said the man offered them cash if they got into the back of the car. The students ran away and the man left the scene.

He was described as a clean-shaven Hispanic male with short black hair and a black rolled-up ski mask. He may have been driving a black SUV, possibly a Tahoe or Suburban, with damage to front bumper, broken headlight, tinted windows, one black wheel, and three silver wheels.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Special Victims Unit at (215-685-3251), or dial 911.

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