Local police are investigating two separate incidents this week in which riders in a white van have approached children in Thomaston and Owls Head, urging them to get inside.
The most recent encounter, according to the Village Soup, occurred Wednesday morning. A student from Oceanside Middle School was riding his bike near F & A’s Market on Main Street in Thomaston when the van stopped and an older man asked him if he wanted to get inside.
The first incident took place Monday afternoon around 3 p.m. in Owls Head. A young girl walking home on Ash Point Drive near the Woodman Trailer Park was approached by a white van with three men inside. They asked her if she wanted a ride.
“The girl didn’t recognize any of the three males in the vehicle and said, ‘no,’” Knox County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Tim Carroll wrote in an email Wednesday.
The men in the van then told the girl that riding in the van “would be quicker,” Carroll said.
The girl fled into the woods before returning home and telling her parents, who then called the police.
Police are urging children to be alert to their surroundings, especially when they’re alone.
“Scream, yell, make some commotion if at any time you feel threatened by a stranger’s approach,” Carroll told the Village Soup on Tuesday.
“Draw attention to yourself the best you can, and get to an adult that you trust and report what you observed immediately to the police,” he said.
Local law enforcement has also taken to social media to advise parents.
“Please talk to your children about strangers and what to do if they get confronted,” the Waldoboro Police Department wrote on its Facebook page Wednesday.
The Waldoboro PD advised, “Please if you see a vehicle matching the description [of the white van], try and get a plate number!!”