SOUTH RIVER — Police are looking into reports that on Dec. 15 an unknown suspect attempted to lure a school-age child.
The alleged incident occurred at 9:18 a.m. in front of a residence at the intersection of Johnson Place and Essex Street, police said.
The victim, who police only described as a school-age child, was outside putting up Christmas lights. The child’s father had been with the child, but went inside the residence.
Police were told that the suspect — who was described as a white male, approximately 40 to 50 years old, bald, with a black mustache — pulled up alongside the child in a tan-colored pickup truck and asked the child to get in.
At this point, the child ran away, and the suspect’s vehicle left, police said. The vehicle was observed heading north up Essex Street.
South River Police Sgt. John McKenna said the area was searched that day with negative results. In the days that followed, the department’s Detective Bureau reached out to other police departments for assistance in the search.
“It appears that this was an isolated incident,” McKenna said.
Police asked that anybody with information about the incident call Detective Joseph Zyskowski at 732-254-9002, ext. 109.