Portland Police Warn of Stranger Danger In Southeast Portland

Portland Police are warning the community of Southeast Portland to be on the lookout after several people reported incidents of strangers approaching school children.

Youth Services Division officers have taken reports of strangers approaching children by Creston School at 4701 SE Bush, Ron Russell Middle School at  3955 SE 112th Avenue, and Hosford Middle School at 2302 SE 28th Place.

According to police:

The Creston School incidents occurred on June 3. The first was at approximately 8:30 a.m., when a two girls in the 3rd and 6th grade were walking to school and a scruffy-looking African American male in his 30s driving a smaller, white SUV, pulled up to them and offered them a ride to school. When they declined, he offered them $20 and they ran away to the school. The second incident was at approximately 11:00 a.m., when two girls were running through Creston Park as part of their PE class when a man standing near the pool exposed himself. The man was described as a dirty white male, heavyset, bald, gray beard, possibly homeless. 

This morning at approximately 10:00 a.m., a female student at Ron Russell Middle School reported that two people in an older white van approached her and asked her to get into the van. The driver was reported to be a male, unknown race. The passenger was described as a white female in her 20s. The van was described as an older white van with tinted windows. 

At approximately 11:30 a.m., staff at Hosford Middle School reported that a student was in the office saying that she was on her way to school when a man grabbed her by the wrist near the food carts on Division Street. She described the man as an older Asian American, possibly Chinese.

While the incidents appear to involve different people, police officials want to warn people to be cautious.