Boys Say Men In Purple Van Tried To Approach, Chase Them

Two young boys said that two men tried to approach them as they were walking in their neighborhood.

Investigators said that they were looking for a purple mini-van with a yellow light on top of it after the boys reported the incident, which they said occurred on Saturday.

According to mother Michelle Smith, she believed Roberts Road in Licking Township was a safe place for her children.

“They just kind of ride their bicycles and play and hang out and kind of go from house to house and just play,” Smith said.

The boys said that two or three men inside the purple mini-van began to drive slowly behind the boys on Saturday.

“My 6-year-old was completely oblivious to the whole thing, because he was on his bicycle in front of the 8-year-old, and he was walking,” Smith said.

The mother said that her two boys had just left a friend’s house at the end of the street when one of the men yelled toward the boys.

“And then they got up behind him and yelled, ‘I’m going to get you!’ Then jumped out and started chasing him,” Smith said.

Smith said that her older son told the younger boy to ride home as fast as he could. The older boy then ran in the opposite direction.

Other neighbors got involved and yelled, scaring the men off.

“I’m very appreciative, because I think honestly, if they had not seen the adults out there, they would have gotten him,” Smith said.

Investigators said that they were searching the purple van with an Ohio license plate with the first characters E and A.

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