Police in Manalapan and Jackson are investigating incidents in which children were reported to have been approached by adults.
As of June 8, no arrests had been made in the wake of those incidents.
Manalapan Deputy Police Chief Michael Fountain said that at 5:30 p.m. May 31, a resident of Manalapan came to police headquarters with her 13-year-old son and his 12-year-old friend.
The woman told an officer that while those two boys and a third boy were walking on Lamb Lane at 11:15 a.m., a white male who was driving a vehicle approached the boys and asked them if they could help him find his cat.
Fountain said the juveniles ran from the scene of the interaction and the man continued driving on Lamb Lane toward Sweetmans Lane. The juveniles described his vehicle as a silver four-door sedan with New Jersey license plates.
The man is believed to be in his late 50s, with a tan complexion, wavy shoulderlength brown hair with some gray, a brownish gray mustache and wrinkles and/or bags under his eyes.
On June 8, Fountain said there was nothing new to report on the May 31 incident in Manalapan, but he said it matched a similar incident that occurred on May 30 in Jackson.
Jackson Police Lt. Steven Laskiewicz said residents on Stonehenge Court told police about an incident that occurred just before 9 p.m. May 30.
Police said one witness reported seeing an older white male pull his vehicle into the driveway of a home and wave to two juveniles who were in the front yard. The witness said the man claimed to have a dog in his car. The unsolicited attention from a stranger prompted one child to run to the backyard where adults were gathered.
According to police, a second witness said the man pulled into the driveway for a moment before backing out of the driveway and leaving the scene without making contact with the juveniles.
Residents and police officers searched the surrounding area for the vehicle, but could not locate it. None of the witnesses recognized the man or the car, which they described as a small four-door vehicle, possibly tan or gray, and possibly a Volvo. No description was provided of the driver, according to police.
Jackson police said they were unsure whether the May 31 incident in Manalapan was related to the May 30 incident in Jackson. Police said patrols in residential areas were increased.