'No Cause For Alarm' After Reported Berkeley Heights Child Luring

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ — "There is no cause for public alarm" following a possible child-luring of a Berkeley Heights high school student that was reported on Wednesday afternoon.

The Berkeley Heights Investigations Division located the wanted truck and the 19-year-old male driver and found that he was in the area for a local delivery at the time of the contact with the student.

"At this time, there is no cause for public alarm and there are no charges pending against the 19-year-old," Berkeley Heights Police said. "We would like to commend the student for her timely and detailed reporting which led to the swift resolution of this incident."

The incident was initially reported on Feb. 13 at 3:25 p.m., when a 15-year-old Governor Livingston High School female student said two men in a large, white delivery box-truck type vehicle approached her near the intersection of Mercer Road and Watchung Boulevard directly across from the main entrance driveway to the school.

The truck pulled up alongside the student while she was walking to her friend's parked vehicle on Mercer Road and the driver rolled down the window, winked at her, and said, "Come in," Berkeley Heights Police report.

The girl did not reply, ran away, and went into her friend's vehicle. The truck then drove away, made a K-turn at the top of Mercer Road near the high school, and drove by the student and her friend in the parked vehicle again without saying anything, police report.

The suspect had been described as a white man in his 20s with dark medium-length hair and dark eyebrows. The truck had been described as all-white on the box portion with possible dark writing or logo on the cab doors, police report.

(Image via Shutterstock)

Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.

Get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our new app. Download here.