Teen foils abduction attempt in Galloway

By MEGGAN CLARK Staff Writer,
August 22, 2005

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP - A 15-year-old boy was barely able to escape Sunday afternoon after a man forced him into a vehicle and tried to chain him to the interior, police said.

Police had to use bolt cutters to remove a 4-foot-long chain that had been padlocked around the boy's neck, said Galloway police Sgt. Paul Dooner.

He said the boy is "shaken up" but physically uninjured.

"I give the kid a lot of credit for getting away from (the suspect)," Dooner said. "It sounds scary, and it definitely is."

Police said the boy was riding his bicycle near a vacant home on Wrangleboro Road, between Collins Avenue and Moss Mill Road, at about 1:30 p.m. when the suspect attempted to force the boy into an older model maroon Jeep, possibly a Wrangler with a tan top.

The suspect, described as a man in his 50s, told the boy to get in the Jeep, police said. When he didn't, the man grabbed him and forced him into the passenger side of the vehicle. The boy was able to escape out the driver's side door, but he didn't get far. The suspect grabbed the teenager again, overpowered him and stuffed him back in the passenger side of the vehicle.

"The suspect produced a heavy chain approximately 4-feet-long and secured it using a padlock, around the boy's neck," Dooner said in a press release. "The boy was able to escape and ran onto Wrangleboro Road, where he flagged down a passing vehicle that stopped to help."

The passers-by immediately called police, who used bolt cutters to remove the chain from around the boy's neck, Dooner said.

The suspect fled north on Wrangleboro Road, police said.

The boy was treated at the scene by Galloway Emergency Medical Services and declined further treatment. He was released to a guardian, police said.

Police described the suspect as a white male, heavyset, wearing a red T-shirt with no sleeves, round glasses with thick black wire frames, khaki shorts and brown slip-on shoes. The vehicle had no back seat and was cluttered, police said.

Dooner said police don't know whether the man specifically targeted the boy or whether he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He said officers are in the process of checking known sex offenders to see if the suspect is in the state's sex-offender registry.

Dooner urged parents to make their children aware of the incident and to take safety precautions.

"Watch them. Don't let them ride alone or be out alone," he said.

The township recently passed an ordinance dramatically restricting where sex offenders can live, touching off a wave of similar ordinances in other Atlantic County towns.

Reached Sunday evening, Michele Troisi-Gjerazi, a member of Communities United for Family Safety, the group that pushed for the ordinance, said she is "speechless" that a person would still try to abduct a child in Galloway.

"I just can't believe, with all the attention that Galloway has gotten (as being tough on sex offenders) ... that they're still so bold enough that they would attempt to take one of our children," she said. "They're relentless. Thank God that little boy got away."

She said she would push to add loitering as a crime to Galloway's ordinance, and for a restrictive code on drivers' licenses so police can easily identify sex offenders who drive.

Councilman Ed McGee said he was also unnerved by the incident.

"You can't be to the point of paranoia where you're afraid to walk out the front door ... but you have to make your children aware of the problems that are out there," he said. "It can happen in any community."

John H. White, Ph.D., an associate professor of criminal justice at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, agrees. He's a licensed psychologist who treats sex offenders in his private practice.

"I don't think a residence restriction is going to stop true sexual predators who move about our society hunting for a child, or hunting for a female (adult) or in some cases a male," White said. "The true sexual predator is going to cross over into other counties, other areas, other jurisdictions."

Police have not said that the attempted kidnapping was sexually motivated. Dooner said investigators still haven't determined what the motive was.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact Sgt. Dooner at 652-3705 ext. 321.

Copyright 2005: The Press of Atlantic City