Social media around St. Michael and Albertville has been buzzing since a pair of recent reports by the media and police-friendly Facebook page “Police Clips” announced a pair of possible abduction attempt calls that were placed with Wright County Dispatch last month.
The first, a little over a week ago, involved two young boys playing on Ash Avenue near the CVS store and St. Michael City Center. The latest report on social media had teens who were playing Pokemon Go in the St. Michael-Albertville Middle School West parking lot approached by a male who “tried to take’ them.
But the Wright County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement Monday alerting the public about the incidents, but stating the both were “unfounded” and the department was trying to “dispel” rumors:
The Wright County Sheriff’s Office would like to dispel misinformation circulating around social media with regards to the alleged recent rash of attempted child abductions in the St. Michael/Albertville area. At this time there have been no confirmed attempted child abductions.
One of the rumors involving an alleged attempted abduction at the St. Michael library/city hall was found to be unfounded. The Sheriff’s Office will continue to rigorously investigate these reports as they come in.
Sheriff Joe Hagerty would like to remind the citizens of Wright County to be vigilant and report any suspicious behavior or incidents to 911.
National Night Out is this Tuesday, August 2nd. This is a great opportunity to get out and meet/speak with neighbors in an effort to promote a safe place to live.
In recent conversations with Hagerty over the past two summers, North Wright County has discussed other “suspicious vehicles” and investigated abduction attempts with the St. Michael-based Sheriff. Hagerty has always stated the department takes every call, every claim very seriously and does its best to investigate the claim, any possible connection to other claims and run checks on vehicles that might have been in the area.
“It ramps up in the summer, because you have more kids and more families outside and things happen,” Hagerty said. “Usually, it’s something like a misunderstanding. But we always look very closely at it and work with every family to find out what exactly happened. No one wants the worst case scenario. You want to be vigilant and we can understand parents being extra precautious,” Hagerty said. He also added that no one should feel like calling 911 in the wake of such an incident is a “waste of time.”