Police say hoax can be trouble

Deirdre Newman

While the kidnapping and death of a 5-year-old Stanton girl has

received widespread media attention and focused parents on the safety

of their children, it has also caused some kids to cry wolf.

Last week, the Costa Mesa Police Department received a report that

a stranger had tried to abduct a 9-year-old boy. After further

investigation, the attempted kidnapping turned out to be a hoax, Lt.

Tom Curtis said.

False alarms such as this can divert police officials from more

life-threatening matters, Curtis warned.

“It taps into our resources because obviously when something like

this comes about, we have to drop what we’re doing and divert a lot

of resources to this,” Curtis said. “Fortunately, before too much

time had passed, we found out that this was unfounded.”

The incident happened about 11:45 a.m. Thursday while boy and his

11-year-old sister were playing outside, near their apartment. The

girl was aware of the recent killing of Stanton girl Samantha

Runnion, and she and her brother were practicing getting away from

strangers.

But their good intentions turned into fantasy when the boy told

his father that a man got out of a truck and grabbed his arm. The boy

said he escaped the man’s grasp and ran away, alleging the stranger

then drove off. His sister said she witnessed the incident.

The children’s father called the police, and all three were asked

to come in to be interviewed by investigators. The children were

interviewed separately, and both recanted their stories, Curtis said.

While it’s important for parents to talk to their children about

the dangers of interacting with strangers, it’s also imperative that

they encourage their children to tell the truth, Curtis said.

“We would hope that all parents would impress that on their

children about everything and anything, but especially something of

this magnitude, so they won’t make stuff up because of all the

consequences associated with it,” Curtis said.

The two children received brief counseling and will not be

prosecuted, Curtis said.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.