Details Released About Child Abduction Attempt Near Greenbriar School

Chicago Heights police have released new details about a Sept. 11 incident in which men attempted to lure a child into a van near an area school.

On Monday, Sept. 12, Principal Joe Taylor sent a letter home with children alerting parents of the apparent abduction attempt. In that letter, the vehicle was described as a brown, rusted out van with an American flag in the window, Taylor said.

According to the police report, that suspicious van also had side running boards.

The child was riding a bicycle on Kingston Place near Arquilla Drive around 7:41 p.m. when the van approached, police said.

At that point, according to the report, the driver, described only as a white man with brown hair in a short haircut and slight beard, told the child, "your Mom called. It's late and she wanted me to pick you up. Get in."

When the child did not respond and rode toward home on the bicycle, the van then pursued the child, according to the report.

The driver yelled to the victim, "Watch it, I'm coming!" However, the van, its driver and two passengers described by the child were gone when investigators arrived in response to a call by female adult at the child's residence, police said.

The front passenger is described as a white man with medium to long black hair, clean-shaven, and dressed in a blue shirt, according to the report. The rear passenger is described only as an African-American man, police said.

Anyone who has information about the Sept. 11 incident or has seen a vehicle matching the description of the brown van, with rust and side running boards, is asked to call the at 708-754-2121.