Girl's Encounter With Driver In Parking Lot Alarms Parents: New Lenox Police

NEW LENOX, IL — A New Lenox woman took to social media to share her concern over an encounter her young daughter had with a driver in a parking lot Monday evening.

In a post that has since been removed, the woman said that Monday evening, her daughter was riding her bike in a parking lot near Vine Street and Route 30, when a man in a pickup truck yelled at her from inside the vehicle.

The woman said on social media that her daughter, who had been out of her sight at the time of the encounter, came to her and said that the man had been "calling her candy." The truck then left the area before being spotted nearby 10 minutes later, she said. When approached by the girl's father, the man said he had told the girl to leave the lot because cars were speeding within it, but the mother said there were no other cars nearby. A woman was with the man in the truck, observed in photos as a grey Ford pickup with Montana license plates. The man told the girl's father that he has children, and children's toys were seen in the backseat, her mother described. The woman said she contacted police and filed a report.

New Lenox police confirmed they were called to the area for a report of a suspicious incident Monday around 7 p.m. Police Chief Micah Nuesse told Patch that a young girl who was on a bike in the parking lot told her parent that a man in a truck yelled at her about riding her bike in the parking lot. Nuesse said the father later approached the man, who was with a woman, and asked why they yelled at his daughter, and the male said it was because the girl was in the parking lot and cars were driving fast through it.

The parking lot area is connected to both a strip mall and multi-unit housing. The man and vehicle had already left the area upon officers' arrival.

Police were able to identify the man and spoke with him via phone. Nuesse said it appeared the individuals travel for work, and police learned the couple was traveling to for work out of state.

No further information was provided.