Carpenter Students Made Up Attempted-Kidnap Story, Police Say

Two 6-year-old boys who shook up parents at with reports that they were targets of an apparent kidnap attempt at Beeman Park on Sunday apparently made the whole thing up, according to police.

The boys claimed they were approached by a man and a 12-year-old boy who tried to get them into their car to see a puppy.

Officer Mike Lewis, of the , said, "Even from the initial reports, some things didn't quite add up."

Police detectives said Thursday afternoon they interviewed the children and determined that there was no crime. "There was a misinterpretation of the incident by the child," police reported.

Meanwhile, three 911 calls came from concerned parents in Studio City who thought they saw a man matching the vague description of an "Eastern-European-looking man with salt-and-pepper, full-length hair, wearing glasses." Four men who were questioned and released in the area had police stop them in the past 24 hours.

"There have been no similar reports or incidents anywhere like this recently," Lewis said, explaining that if the supposed culprits had attempted an abduction once, they most likely would have tried it again in another part of town, but apparently did not.

Carpenter's principal, Joe Martinez, to all parents by e-mail and distributed a flier at the front office on Monday when he heard about the alleged incident, using it to remind children how to deal with strangers who approach them.

Late Wednesday, Martinez said he knew nothing of the claim that the report was bogus. "I talked to the mom of one of the boys who was there at the park, but this is the first that I've heard of it," the principal said.

One woman, a parent who knows the boys who were at the park, said, "I am so thankful that this wasn't real," and another parent wrote Patch and said, "I'm relieved and pissed."