North Beach Elementary School (map) has issued a warning to parents about a stranger who has been hanging out around campus. Some parents forwarded an email (seen below) from the school to MyBallard.
Today (Tuesday), the Caucasian man, about 5’6”, scruffy beard, brown hair, riding a shiny, red bicycle, approached a child while with her family, asking if she would like a toy out of his box. The parents of course intervened. Parents came to office and were instructed to call police. Police were called and did not come because the man was gone.
After lunch was over, a student reported running to the fence to retrieve a ball when the bell rang. The man (who was on the other side of the fence) asked him a question about how to get in the building at night. Families from North Beach have also had this man near their homes or on their porch.
The principal at North Beach says security from Seattle Schools is aware of this man, who also matches the description of a man hanging out near Loyal Heights School. Staff at North Beach is said to be on “red alert,” and parents are asked to use all necessary precautions when dropping off their children.
![](https://www.myballard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-My-Ballard-Tile-Ad-Troop-100.png")
Thanks for the heads-up! And thanks MUCH to the parent who forwarded the email!!
This is Seattle, we're supposed to be compassionate…let's give him a hug.
A man matching this description has been around our studio recently, and has definitely given us the heebie jeebies. Thankfully a one of the parents of our students gave us the heads up about him yesterday as he walked by, and now we know to look out for him and call the cops if needed. He is a very creepy guy. Has anyone looked into registered sex offenders in the area to see if he is one? He came into our studio as we were cleaning up after our open house last week and took some of the balloons we had for decoration. We thought it odd at the time, but now realize he probably wanted to give it to a kid. How horrible.
Wow, Kudos to NB for releasing this information immediately! Unlike Whittiers previous principal who sat on information like this for 4 months before releasing the information to parents. …
McGinn thinks this is fine and this email forwarded unduly criminalizes
No surprise there.
McGinn is a moron.
Well with scraggly hair and bike pandering to kids with shiny toys, the man does fit McGinns description?
What color is McGinn's bike anyway?
PLEASE NOTE:
At 2:30pm today at North Beach Elementary is a SCHOOL SAFETY MEETING.
I urge you to attend, even if not a NB parent.
Great to get that letter out, but… not sure if taking as seriously as could.
Thank you for alerting us to this!
We were told he is not a REGISTERED sex offender.
Can someone from BallardAcademy come to the Safety Meeting at North Beach Elementary in an hour (how's THAT for last minute notice – apologies!) to fill them in? There have been about seven reported incidents by campus and the surrounding neighborhoods. Getting bolder, seems.
“Hour”
= 2:30pm Wednesday, April 21st at North Beach Elementary (corner 24th and 90th)
Last minute is an understatement!! I am going to TRY to make it to the meeting, now only in a half hour, but if I can't get there I am hoping someone can fill us in after wards.
Thanks for posting the meeting info!
Is the guy always on his bike? That will help id him better. But sans bike there are lots of guys around that medium height with beards – how long is his hair? Is it curly or straight? Would you say he's in his 20's, 30's, 40's? Is he black, white, middle-eastern?
Sorry – I'm getting all paranoid now and just wanted more clarification on the description. Unless of course he's always on his bike then that is a bit more of a give-away.
He might not be a registered sex offender from our neighborhood. I recall a few years ago there was a sex offender from Snohomish County stalking our Ballard elementary schools, so it may just be he's not registered in our county. Besides being creepy about kids does he show any other signs of mental illness like talking to himself or acting like he's hearing voices?
>>> “Parents came to office and were instructed to call police. Police were called and did not come because the man was gone.”
WHAT?!?! Hang on… did the police at least take a report or is this guy totally off the hook? I usually feel like there's too much criticizing of the police that goes on in this city, but I hope they are taking this seriously.
.
Too much criticizing of the police? I don't see much, likely because it's a waste of time. To be fair the Seattle police aren't much worse than average. The typical police officer's response to any request from a citizen is “How do I get out of dealing with this with the least amount of work possible?”
I would think they would come out and drive around a bit looking for the guy. If they find him, of which there is a good chance since he is on a bicycle and not moving fast or going far, they could talk to him, ask for ID, run a check on him, and see what's up. But then I'm a fascist so what do I know.
The law protects predators rights over the rights of kids. Let me find this guy in a back alley and I'll handle it the old fashioned way. Quick and swift justice for everyone.
…and he communicated this to you how?
Biff thinks this is fine and will be out around the elementary schools this week helping to round up kids for the creepy guys…you won't? But I just imagined it so it must be true!
All right psycho boy! I was wondering how long it would take to get one of those comments.
I'm not thrilled that the cops gave the brush off, but if you started lynching every creep you suspect you'd have to add yourself to the list just based on your comment above.
Thanks to the school for being proactive and getting the word out. Hopefully this attention will get the police to do their job and at least find out if this guy presents a real threat.
So you take his picture….call the police…they question him….THEN WHAT? He hasn't broken the law so they let him go. If we're lucky the “watch” him. Then eventually he abducts a child and ?….Meanwhile the cops investigate and investigate…the family is devastated and then a year or so later (if the guy is caught) he stands trial and gets sentenced to community service and counseling. What's wrong with this picture? We know these PERVERTS are going to mess with OUR (community's) kids eventually. Let's lock em up forever or just sentence them to death. The penalty fits the crime don't you think? And yes many offenders may be “mental” but hey whatever happened to “you do the crime you do the time”. Their mental state doesn't make the damage they cause any less. Personally, if someone messed with my kid I would put a bullit in their head and feel better for it. I'd go to trial and chalk it up to “temporary insanity” or some twinkie defense…just the same BS they use to get off. I'd trust a jury any day to do the right thing on this one.
Parents!!!
Take back your right to feel comfortable and safe in your surroundings. You pay the taxes, not some quasi-homeless pervert.
If this man is a predator he wants to stay anonymous. If you see him, go up to him, engage him in conversation, ask his name, ask where he lives.
Somewhere along the way we decided that the police had to be called at the slightest sign of trouble. Why? They aren't coming.
So go shine the big bright light of community involvement on this slug and he'll run!! Say it right out loud, “We see you and we know what you're doing and we're not going to tolerate it!”
I actually saw this guy yesterday morning at the Pitstop gas station on 15th & 58th. He first rode up to an older woman pumping gas who had a white mustang. He was asking her if she would sell it. She must have said no, because he responded, everything is for sale. Then he got in the line at the Knotty Bodies drive through and had 2 tulips to give to the barista. I thought he wasn't so much a pedophile, but someone who was very weird and very socially awkward.
What kind of red bike? Seriously, I (and most bike nerds -of which there are many around here) can ID a bike faster than the person riding it, and if you show me a picture of a particular bike I can tell you where I've seen it before (being ridden or just locked up).
Also, in a weird way a bike is more unique and easier to spot than just some random brown-haired guy with a beard.
Nothing wrong with taking a cell-phone pic of this guy if you see him around.
“shiny red bicycle with the word “Next” in black on down tube of the frame”
Here were some confirmed incidents (note: we are only presuming from descriptions that it is the same person, but have been told from NB principal that is same person bothering Loyal Heights Elem in the past):
1. Last Thursday, man was seen urinating with his pants at this ankles (thereby exposing himself) near the south stairs to the school. He made eye contact with a passing grandmother but continued his act.
2. Last Thurs or Friday, man threw football pass to a custodian, trying to engage in activity and conversation but was rebuffed twice.
3. Over the weekend. In Olympic Manor, man circled around 10 year old girl in front yard without parents and gave girl a “present for her mom.” Girl was uncomfortable enough to hide present and not tell parent at first.
4. Monday, man near P2 (on campus actually? not sure) who ran away from an unaccompanied student, aged 11. Teacher went out looking for him, but didn't see him.
5. Tuesday morning, man approached a 4yr old on sidewalk adjacent to north stairs. Refusing to make eye contact with accompanying parents, he asked child to pick a toy from his box.
When refused by parents, he became somewhat belligerent. Parents report the way this man acted and looked at the child was deeply disturbing and inappropriate.
6. Tuesday at lunch, man came up to playground fence and asked child how one gets into the building at night.
Also within last week:
In Olympic Manor, man approached approx 11 year old boy walking home with younger sister (approx age 6).
And a liar.
Well, look at this little detail, passed along from North Beach Elementary (posted by DDF in the forum):
“Seattle Schools Security is aware of this person. He matches the description of the same man who was in the area of Loyal Heights School. They have a person that is working with them to apprehend this person and have a name and numbers. They have been tracking him and do know of one place he has gotten off a bus at night. This is a church known for having people stay that may be homeless.”
Our wonderful “shelters” strike again.
Surprise, surprise, surprise!!!
this wouldn't be that church that supposedly was kicking out the SHARE shelter, would it?
either way, i'm curious to what has happened re: that situation. is the shelter gone?
Here's the thing: how many of these incidents are confirmed WITH THE POLICE? Doesn't count for squat if it's the school or neighbors or Santa Claus that saw something happens. Only thing that counts in the end is if a police report was taken. No report = it didn't officially happen.
Also helps to keep some perspective before freaking out – the odds of your child being abducted and killed by a stranger are astronomically slim. Your child is more likely to be struck by lightning, killed by your doctor making a mistake, and WAY more likely to be killed by their parents in a car crash. Take reasonable precautions like keeping an eye on your child while they play out front bu don't become needlessly paranoid and keep your kids locked up inside while you sharpen your pitchforks.
Look nobody is keeping their kids home or sharpening pitchforks. We are trying to exchange useful info here so we can stop this guy from bothering our kids. It is all well and good for you to say “there there” but the kids are freaked. And none of us want to see this guy peeing on the school steps. Get real. This is a problem. We are working on it.
Mother of North Beach kid
The incident at LH was after school last Thursday. The man approached a group of girls that had an arguement and offered to play with one of them. He gave her a tennis racket and had her throw a ball to him while he hit it. The other 3 girls alerted their parents because he appeared out of place and creeped them out. He seemed to exit quickly once he was identified by parents. We did attempt to get a cell picture as he left the play ground. He was on foot and stopped one block from the school to leave a note on a car stating that he wanted to buy it with his cell number. He was 50-60ish with brown hair and beard heavily grayed. Probably about 5'7″ to 5'9″ and maybe 170 lb. He carried books, a tennis racket, and back pack. The principal and police were alerted. He was apporached by a parent and he indicated he was wanting to volunteer.
There is no real evidence this person mean any harm, just that he is weird and probably mentally ill. Part of the reason the kids are “freaked” is that the parents are “freaked.”
I am an area parent. I'm quite aware of this situation. I still let my child out of the house.
Mentally off guy does not always equal pervert.
Updated info says the police have an address for the guy.
Some bus stops happen to be near shelters. People happen to get of the bus there.
You'll have to blame the shelters for something else.
Yes, the legal process can be frustrating sometimes but that is the price you have to pay to live in a free society. You still don't get that if you proactively lock up anyone you suspect of violating a law eventually, or of just being creepy and threatening you'd have to put yourself pretty high on that list too. You've just threatened murder and perjury so that actually puts you higher on the danger list than a creepy guy dumb enough to be open about talking to kids.
The other thing is we still don't even know anything about this guy. Chances are he is some kind of perv, but what if he's just a harmless idiot who has the same IQ as a kid so likes to talk to them? You still want to “put a bullit in their head and feel better for it?”
BTW, It's bullet if you're talking about ammunition and Bullit if you're talking about the Steve McQueen movie.
Just post the picture of this guy. Surely someone's taken a picture, given so many sightings.
Then we can A) keep our kids away from him, or B) watch his odd behavior closely enough to take notes and report it to the authorities so he can get the help he needs.
Maybe take digital video. That'd probably be better.
1 in 4 girls is sexually abused by 18. I was in preschool when it happened to me. That doesn't mean everyone, or to get alarmist. But it does happen, and not always to “other” people.
Was this meant to be addressed to me or my comment? If so, I'm not sure how it applies.
Also, most that are molested are the victims of someone they know, like a family member.
I agree!
Post the picture and if you see him call the cops!
Nut jobs are unpredictable!
Remember to give him 3 feet while he is on his bicycle!
Approaching kids and women preferentially is a concerning pattern of behavior. Exposing yourself near school grounds is a concerning pattern of behavior. Preferentially hanging around various schoolyards is a concerning pattern of behavior.
It seems like the police should be able to at least bring him in on indecent exposure given the peeing incident, right? This shouldn't be a totally hopeless situation, and as a mother of young children, I surely hope they find some reason to at least question him and find out more about him/his circumstances BEFORE he harms a child.
I do take comfort in the fact that he at least doesn't appear to have a car (yet) and that should make it slightly more difficult for him to actually remove a child from his/her familiar supervised surroundings.
Public urination is only a ticket. Even so, without a cop actually seeing it they can't do anything weeks after the fact.
I'm not trying to discount the warnings or the seriousness of the situation, just trying to point out the realities involved in something like this. It's frustratingly tough to do something legally when a crime has yet to be committed. The best bet I'm guessing, is to bring the guy in for a psych evaluation and see if he is a potential threat or not. The next step would be for a judge to issue a restraining order if he is causing disruptions at schools and playgrounds. If he then breaks that court order and lurks around the school he can be arrested for that. Beyond that I can't think of too much else that could be done by the police. I do wonder if he could be forced into some kind of counseling though…that might be enough to keep him from becoming a real threat if he's just a borderline case with poor social skills.
I am pleased with the responsible and reasonable response of the school authorities. It's the parent's hysteria that is rubbing off on the children.
We have taught our child not to talk to strangers who approach children, never to go off to “help” a stranger, and to tell an adult if approached. This seems to be what the child at the school did when this person spoke to them. Good!
Now, look at all this talk here of bullets and whatnot,and deciding that some unknown person simply has to be a pervert (well, he's not a “REGISTERED” sex offender–hey, guess what, neither are you).
Tell me who is modeling correct behavior. I vote for the kids.
Maybe this person is harmful, maybe he is not. This is a good opportunity to remind your children to be wary of unsolicited approaches, and to always get away and tell an adult if someone's behavior is troubling. I want my child to know that adults are treating this situation carefully and rationally. I do not want children afraid to go to school. Mine is not.
“Police were called and did not come…”
That's just about the understatement of the god-damned year.
Free society? What a joke. You live in society that you only THINK is free. If you think its free than try not paying your taxes (income, property, sales, inheritance, car, and all the other licensing/taxes/assesments that the government MAKES you pay. The older I get, the more I want to move out to the country start a small business and live “off-the-grid”. At least in a small town or on my property if there's a sex offender he'll get whats coming to him without the bureaucratic B.S. and the drain on taxpayer dollars. And I'm not suggesting a lynch mob but if a child I know accuses someone of this…eye witness testimony with no motive is good enough in my book.
Absolutely! We need to get his picture and let everyone in the neighborhood know his name, address, and what he looks like. F'n pervert! I remember years ago in Everett there was a sex offender who moved into a family neighborhood. Then “mysteriously” his house burned down. How convenient for the families in the neighborhood. Ostracism has worked for 1000s of years why change now. These people should be outcast from society since they can't seem to obide by society's rules. Did I say F'n perverts?
Psycho boy? As a father of two, my wife and kids come first. It is MY job above everyone to protect them…NOT the police, NOT the school, and certainly NOT you. Thats the problem with America today. Everyone wants to be taken care of and no one wants to accept responsibility for anything. People like you rely on other people for protection and to be “taken care of”. Then you complain when the system fails you. Try growing up and taking some responsibility instead of being such a WIMP. Your wife and kids will thank you and be proud of you for it.
Well said! The guy is very suspicious and yeah lets not execute him but lets scrutinize the sh*t out of him until we can ascertain if he is a threat or not. That is within are rights is it not?
Sorry…I think most rational people would see me as less of a threat to them than a sex offender. In fact, I think they'd feel pretty safe with me watching their kids.
You could say “murder” and “perjury” but like I said….I'd trust a jury to this anyday. And since you're quite the legal scholar then you'd know the right to a trial by jury is constitutionally protected.
Oh and since you feel the need to criticize my spelling why don't you reread your post, with its numerous errors) and check the grammer on that as well.
See Jon C's post below.
Keep some perspective? I'm sorry but it doesn't have to be MY kid for me to feel victimized. I actually care about my community's kids not just my own. Yes the chances are slim something will happen to my kids but its absolutely not a slim chance something will happen to my community's kids. Just some stats on how serious this is…
A woman is raped every 2 minutes in the US. 1/6th of all rapes are on kids under age 12. Doing the math that means every 12 minutes a kid under 12 is raped (not just “assaulted”). Personally, I think its time to get serious about punishing the people. By the way in the time I've been on this site today at least 2 kids were raped. And yes…this victimizes everyone that has kids, including me.
This is not ok to accuse someone of doing something when nothing has been done. Don't get me wrong, if he did do something, he should be punished, however, from what I know, this man is mildly retarded, and may just have social skill issues.
Funny how all the liberals here are so quick to accuse an innocent person. This teaches a lesson: always talk to your kids about 'strangers'. it should be a constant conversation, not one when everyone 'panics' about a neighborhood guy who has been annoying to lots of folks in N.Beach/Blue Ridge but never done anything harmful.
You must have been one of the 3 that weren't. Yes it's usually a family member we should lock those ones up and throw away the key too.
Question…do you have kids?
Yes, 3 at the school. I am concerned, don't get me wrong. But getting the whole school in a tizzy over one mentally challenged guy is not the way to talk to kids about the EVERYDAY issues strangers face, at school, parks, w/in FAMILY.
Family is where most molestation, kidnapping, etc occurs. Not from some 'stranger'. I worry we are misdirecting energy, and accusing a so far innocent man. NOt the focus.
ballard bitty … you have an excellent point …
ballardbitty- thanks for the breath of fresh air and common sense. i, too, am a nb parent and am taking this situation very seriously. it's important, however, not to burn anyone at the stake at the moment.
this has been another opportunity to revisit important “talks” with our children, and also to remind them of the constant dangers out there….regardless of where you are and what neighborhood you live in.
the school/staff have done a wonderful job handling the situation- and please don't knock our men/women in blue on this. have any of you worked in law enforcement, or volunteered at a dispatch center? i have. trust me…they're doing their jobs and also happen to be quite busy dealing with the massive gang and burglary problems in our beautiful city and immediate neighborhood.
keep your eyes open and stay safe.
unfortunately, it's not against the law to talk to children, etc. no matter how creepy the situation may be.
So because he may be retarded, he should get a pass? Being retarded doesn't make him any less of a threat.
“Family is where most molestation, kidnapping, etc occurs. Not from some 'stranger'.”
Well, actually from both, and being married to someone who was violently raped by a stranger, I get to call 'bull' on all your opinions.
Really? I heard it was 1 in 2!
It seems like this conversation has gotten way off track. I think we should leave the diatribes out for a little while, as the primary goal should be the safety of the kids and health of the neighborhood. Does anyone have any additional pertinent information on this guy, such as a more detailed description? Or additional incidents? If this guy s approaching kids and asking them to take toys out of his box, then people should keep an eye out for him, end of story. Nobody's saying they should throw bricks at him. I just heard about this, so if there's anything anyone can report from the safety meeting, that would be wonderful. Thanks!