Predator Almost Snatches Girl

About 1 p.m. Friday, Suzanne Campbell pulled up in her driveway. She put the milk in the garage refrigerator. Her great-granddaughter loves to get the mail. The mailbox was about 40 yards away.

A few moments later, the girl reappeared.

"You're going to have a heart attack," the 5-year-old said.

A man had pulled up, opened the passenger door, and asked the pretty blonde girl to get in. Sensing stranger danger, the girl, who won't be identified by name for this story, did exactly what Campbell had always told her to do. She ran.

Deputies praised her. "They said she did exactly the right thing," Campbell said.

Campbell is telling the story today because she wants neighbors to know: there's a sexual predator on the prowl.

A Circle Of Fiends

Campbell loves to play golf, so she bought a lovely three-bedroom house next door to the Spring Lake Golf Course. She's surrounded by middle-class stucco homes. There are tall trees and smoothly manicured grass around every house. This picture postcard neighborhood looks as safe as it gets.

That's why it's such a surprise for Campbell to go to the computer and type in "sexual offenders." And what comes up is a Florida Department of Law Enforcement Web site. She pushes another button, and a map pops up.

The map shows Campbell's home is surrounded by predators and sex offenders. It shows the names and addresses of eight registered sex offenders who live within four miles of her house. One lives on the same street.

After the incident, Campbell took her great-granddaughter riding around, so the girl could better identify the type of car, which had darkly tinted windows.

"At first she said it was a small car, but then we started looking at small cars, and she said it was bigger." They spotted a 1988 Oldsmobile, and the girl pointed it out. It was like this car, she said.

Only one of the sexual predators in Campbell's neighborhood has a car like that, which Campbell reported to the police.

Crime Prevention

As soon as they got Campbell's report, a be-on-the-lookout bulletin was issued, said Lt. John Chess, who is in charge of the Special Victims Unit created by Sheriff Susan Benton in January. Officers frequently update the makes and models of cars driven by sexual offenders in this county.

Deputies went to the houses of each sexual offender and checked, Chess said.

At 10 a.m. Thursday, while her 5-year-old was in school, Campbell got another visitor. Nell Frewin Hays is a crime prevention specialist with Highlands County Sheriff's Office.

Together, they walked around Campbell's house. Beside the girl's bedroom is a sculpted hedge. Hays crouched down. "I can hide behind this."

There's a burglar alarm on each window in Campbell's house. Hays advised how to upgrade them.

Since a tree shades the yard from a tall light in the median of the street, Hays suggested planting a thorny bougainvillea around the tree. Bad guys won't like hiding there.

Campbell asked about a fence around the yard.

"Fences are fine," Hays advised. "But some subdivisions don't allow them."

Maybe a hedge, she suggested, low enough that a bad guy must crouch to hide behind, but high enough that it's difficult to jump over.

This case, said Chess, points out how quickly a child can disappear.

Chess worked another case, years ago, where a man and his 21-year-old nephew went into a business. While the uncle was selling goods to the business owner, the nephew spotted the business owner's daughter, took her into another room and fondled her under her clothing.

"That took one minute," Chess said. Neither the uncle nor the business owner believed it could have happened that fast. But police checked out the girl's story, determined the nephew was a previous sexual offender, and he confessed.

"It takes seconds for these people," Chess warned.

Stranger Danger

A stranger is a person you haven't met, or don't know anything about.

Strangers look like ordinary people. They don't look like monsters, aliens, or TV bad guys.

Kids, here's what to do:

If a stranger asks you for help, or to keep a special secret, it could be dangerous. Say no and tell a trusted adult.

Trust your instincts. If you feel scared or uncomfortable, just run in the opposite direction, toward people or a safe place.

Think 'No, Go, Yell, Tell.' Say 'No, you're not my mommy or daddy.' Run away, yell as loudly as you can, and tell an adult.

Never get in a car with a stranger.

Ask your parents first. If a stranger invites you to go somewhere, offers you a gift, or just wants to talk, say you need to ask your parents for permission.

Stick with friends. It's always safer to play in a group.

Establish a code word. If mom or dad really does send someone to pick you up, ask for the code word.