Police sending extra patrols in response to yesterday’s alleged incident involving local student

By Gary Scott on November 8, 2017 at 12:37pm

Jacksonville Police are ramping up patrols as they continue to investigate an alleged incident yesterday involving a Jacksonville Middle School student and an unknown male adult.

According to a press release from Jacksonville Police, at approximately 3:15 p.m. yesterday, shortly after school had been dismissed, officers received information regarding a white male with brown hair, approximately 30 years of age, approaching a juvenile in an inappropriate manner on Sherwood Eddy Drive. The male is also described as having no facial hair and wearing a black shirt and long pants.

Authorities say that the male allegedly asked the juvenile if he wished to go with him for money. After the juvenile declined, the male subject reportedly left the area on foot heading east.

Jacksonville Police Lieutenant Doug Thompson says there are extra officers patrolling the areas around Jacksonville schools today in light of yesterday’s alleged incident.

“Officers are patrolling any area at the time when students are going to and from school. We are also doing sex offender compliance checks in the area to see and verify if any sex offender in that area is in compliance and make sure that they don’t match a description. That way, (if they do not match a description), we can eliminate them as suspects and go from there,” says Thompson.

Thompson also says parents should speak with their children about avoiding strangers.

“We’re encouraging all parents to have the stranger-danger talk with their children, make sure that the children are not getting into vehicles with people they don’t know or going anywhere with people they don’t know. We also encourage parents to make sure that they’ve expressed to their children to only go with people expressly told to them by their parents,” Thompson says.

Jacksonville Police say the incident is currently under investigation and is believed to be isolated. Anyone with potential information regarding the alleged incident is asked to contact Lieutenant Doug Thompson at 217-479-4630.