From staff reports
CHATFIELD -- Police here are requesting help in identifying a man who chased three girls Tuesday night, apparently watched children played at a Rochester schoolground Monday and tried to get a Rochester woman to get into his car Wednesday.
Police Chief Tony Pangal said law enforcement officers want to talk to the man and find out his intentions.
The three Chatfield girls -- two who are 12 years old and one who is 13 -- initially saw the man watching them at Mill Creek Park. When they began to leave the park about 9:50 p.m., the man ran after them until they reached an open store. When the girls' parents drove closer to the man, he fled on foot.
Police are treating the incident as an apparent abduction attempt and are requesting help from the community to identify the man.
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A man matching the description of the one involved in the Chatfield incident was also seen near Lincoln at Mann School in southeast Rochester on Monday night, watching children play, Pangal said. When a parent called to the children, the man fled in a car. The car and driver matched the description of a vehicle and its driver given by a Rochester woman who was walking early Wednesday afternoon when a man offered her a ride.
Pangal described the suspect as a white man in his late 20s or early 30s, about 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall, with a slender build, brown hair and wire-rimmed glasses. He was wearing blue jeans, a white T-shirt and glasses Tuesday night.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Chatfield Police Department at (507) 867-3331 or the Fillmore County Sheriff's Department at (507) 765-3874.
