Kidnap try foiled by victim Kidnap try foiled by victim (March 10, 2004)

By Jonas Raab
Special to the Almanac

Never get into a car with a stranger. A 14-year-old girl may have had this parental adage in mind when a strange man pulled up next to her in his car and tried to grab her last week.

Sgt. Matt Bacon of the Menlo Park Police Department said that the girl was walking on O'Brien Street in Menlo Park at approximately 4 p.m. on March 4 when a man pulled up in a vehicle and tried to abduct her. The girl was able to get away and call the police.

Menlo Park police responded and, after a search of the area, were unable to locate the suspect, Sgt. Bacon said.

Police are looking for a physically fit Hispanic man of light-medium complexion with olive marks on both cheeks. Police said that he is in his mid-20s, weighs about 165 pounds, is approximately 5 feet 9 inches tall, and has black spiked hair tinted with red/orange and a goatee of the same tint. He has no noticeable tattoos or piercings.

Police said that the suspect was driving a newer model silver four-door sedan with tinted side and rear windows that may have been a Honda or Toyota.

Police encourage anyone with information to call Detective Ed Estrada at 330-6362, or the Menlo Park Police Department at 330-6300.

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