UPDATE: Police: Incident in Rockshire Wasn't an Abduction Attempt

Update, 9 p.m.:

Rockville City Police released more information about an incident in which a man called out to a boy as the child played in front of his home on Wednesday morning.

City police received a call around 11:45 a.m. for a suspicious incident, Chief Terrance N. Treschuk said.

A woman said that her 11-year-old son was playing in front of their home on Chantilly Court in the Rockshire community when a car stopped near the intersection of the court and Watts Branch Parkway, Treschuk said. A man rolled down the passenger side window of the car and called “Come here, boy,” Treschuk said. The boy ran into his home where his mother called police.

The boy described the car as a “beat up” white Honda with tinted windows. He could not give a description of the man but said that he was wearing a white glove, “like a golf glove,” Treschuk said.

City police searched the neighborhood for the car, but did not find it.

After the report, the boy’s father went to the Rockshire Community Pool, and a day camp at to advise people about the incident, Treschuk said.

News of the incident spread throughout the community via an email written by John Currie, the owner of Pool Personnel Inc., the company that manages the Rockshire pool. The email, which Currie said Wednesday evening he had sent to the community manager, a pool representative and a representative of the pool’s swim team, spread to a community email list serve.

“At the time it was reported to me by my manager on duty at the pool, approximately 12:30 p.m. today, I made the decision to make sure the management staff and board presidents of the other pools I manage in the area (9 others within five miles of Rockshire) were alerted to this report so that they would be more aware of anything suspicious,” Currie wrote in an email to Rockville Patch on Wednesday evening. “The goal in so doing was that if indeed some individual was seen at another pool where children often come and go alone, they would be able to report it to police and potentially avoid anything serious happening to the children or any other patrons of the pools. I did not forward the email to the entire Rockshire community.”

In an interview later Wednesday, evening Currie added: “We’re not asking lifeguards to take on the responsibility of the police, but in light of that report we asked them to ‘Keep an eye on your parking lot as well as your pool.’”

Police were unable to provide information about the incident earlier in the day because of how it was originally reported, Treschuk said.

“We were looking for an abduction call,” he said. Instead, the report was classified as a suspicious incident.

Police located and interview the boy and his parents on Wednesday evening, Treschuk said.

“They all said that there was no attempt at an abduction but that they were unnerved by the incident,” he said.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Rockville City Police at 240-314-8900 and ask to speak with an investigator.

Original post, 6:25 p.m.:

Rockville City Police are investigating an incident in which a man came to the Rockshire Community Pool on Wednesday and reported that a man had attempted to lure his son into a car in the neighborhood.

John Currie, the owner of Pool Personnel, Inc., the company that manages the pool near , reported the incident in an email sent to pool members on Wednesday.

In it, Currie wrote that the pool manager on duty on Wednesday “was informed by a resident of the community that someone attempted to lure/abduct his child into a white Honda sedan (Accord or Civic probably) and was very aggressive.”

The man called city police about the alleged incident, which occurred in the Rockshire community, Currie wrote.

“There was no description of the individual provided, only that the car had tinted windows, was somewhat beat up, and the man was wearing black gloves,” Currie wrote.

Rockville City Police Chief Terrance N. Treschuk said early Wednesday evening that his department had only just learned of the alleged incident and had not received a call about it earlier.

“We’ve had no calls for service in that area today,” Treschuk said. “We’re certainly looking further into it.”

County police also did not receive any calls from the Rockshire neighborhood on Wednesday, said Officer Rebecca Innocenti, a county police spokeswoman.

City police are taking the lead in the investigation and are talking with lifeguards at the pool who might have had contact with the man who reported the alleged incident, Treschuk said.

Police are trying to identify the man who reported the alleged incident. Pool staff did not know if the man was a member of the pool, Treschuk said.

Innocenti said the incident is a reminder to people who see something suspicious to make sure they are somewhere safe and then call police.

“Unfortunately, if time has passed, it’s harder to investigate. …,” she said. “As soon as we know about an event we can go and investigate.” 

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Rockville City Police at 240-314-8900 and ask to speak with an investigator.