Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 30, 1995 TAG: 9509300003
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Like last school year, he drove a light-blue Chevy and ordered a large soft drink at the Uni-Mart on Brandon Avenue Southwest. He arrived about 2 in the afternoon, just minutes before children from nearby Woodrow Wilson Middle School stopped by the store.
"During the summer, he'd come in once or twice a month," said Norma Alls, manager of the Uni-Mart. "As soon as school started, he'd come in every day."
He wasn't doing anything illegal. The man stayed outside the store. He smoked, watched the schoolchildren and left.
But earlier this month, store clerks became suspicious when he began offering some of the boys change for soda.
"I told the kids to stay away from him," Alls said.
Uni-Mart employees called police. Several children at Woodrow Wilson told their principal. And this week, school officials sent parents a letter warning them that a stalker had been seen near the school.
The letters were sent Thursday to make parents aware of the situation, said Woodrow Wilson Middle School Principal Kay Duffy. In the letter, officials suggested that children:
Walk with friends.
Walk on well-traveled streets and avoid taking shortcuts through alleys.
Be cautious in talking with strangers.
Walk to the nearest home of a friend or to a store if they suspect they are being followed.
The letter aroused memories of a similar situation three years ago, when a man was following young children around the Raleigh Court area. Police could do little to stop him because he was not breaking the law.
The Raleigh Court incidents became a rallying cry to support new legislation that would give police more authority to act instead of just react to these situations. In April 1992, the General Assembly passed the stalking bill, which makes it a crime to follow someone on more than one occasion with intent to injure.
But in this case, the man seen at the Uni-Mart has not broken any law because he has not actively followed anyone.
Police have talked to him, and a youth bureau detective continues to investigate. Police say he is not the same man who cruised the Raleigh Court area in 1992.
The man has not been seen at the Uni-Mart since Thursday. That afternoon, a girl walked up to him with the letter in hand "showed it to him and said, 'This pertains to you,''' store clerk Mary Nichols said. "He looked at it and left."
by CNB