ST. MARY’S — Police in St. Mary’s say an attempted child abduction reported earlier this week was a fabricated story.
Investigators say the child who alerted police Monday about the alleged incident was never in any danger and there in fact was no attempt to abduct the child. The child’s name has not been released and police say he will not be identified.
According to the St. Mary’s Police Department’s Facebook page, officers reportedly swept the area of US Highway 24 and Grand Ave. Given the apparent credible information at the time and erring on the side of caution, the department issued a press release with information given by the child victim. The department interviewed several neighbors in the area and reviewed hours of video surveillance from local businesses and numerous tips were followed up upon as they tried to develop a potential suspect, initially described by the boy as a middle-aged African American man.
After speaking with the child’s family it became apparent that the boy made up the story.