Update: Sheriff’s Deputies Seeking Man in Possible Kidnap Told by 6th-Grader

Updated at 3:10 p.m. March 9, 2012

Sheriff's deputies are looking for a Hispanic man in his 20s with the letters “SP” tattooed on the left side of his neck and tattoos on his right knuckles in connection with a possible child abduction Thursday.

Melissa Aquino, a public affairs officer for the Sheriff's Department, said Friday afteroon that a 12-year-old student of Chet Harritt School told deputies this story:

He was walking home at 2:35 p.m. Thursday on Mesa Street when a man in an older, rusted brown car drove up alongside him and asked him if he wanted some candy.

"The boy became scared and ran home." Aquino said. "He then told his mother about the encounter and that’s when deputies from the Santee Sheriff’s Station were called."
 
The boy also claims seeing another child get into the car of the man who approached him, Aquino said.

"At this time, we are still working to verify this. ... No one has come forward to file a missing persons report. The investigation is ongoing and we are working with the Santee School District."

Original story:

A sixth-grade boy walking home from Chet Harritt School on Thursday told district officials and sheriff's officers that he saw a younger student get into a car after he himself had been lured with candy, officials said.

Superintendent Patrick Shaw of the Santee School District said Friday that the boy, walking across the street from the school at Prospect Avenue and Mesa Road, told his mother that a couple asked if he wanted candy.

About 30-40 minutes later, Shaw said, the school had sent a phone message to parents alerting them to the incident. A flier was being sent home Friday with students, advising them to walk with others.

Parents later were asked to make sure their children had arrived home safely. 

Shaw said the district had received no reports of a missing child. 

The sixth-grader was shown pictures of all students at Chet Harritt School as well as the PRIDE Academy several miles away from the scene near Big Rock Park, Shaw said. 

"We take this extremely seriously," Shaw said in a phone interview, "and always err on the side of caution. The safety of our students is of utmost [importance]."

Shaw said no sheriff's patrols were dispatched to the K-8 Harritt school Friday morning, but school staff was extra vigilant watching out for students.