Man who tried luring children outside Tacoma gym is being held without bail
A man suspected of trying to lure children into his SUV outside a Tacoma YMCA is being held without bail.
The 50-year-old was charged Wednesday with luring and obstruction of a police officer. He has not been arraigned and is being held without bail until he receives a mental health evaluation.
Charging papers give this account:
The man was spotted just after 6 p.m. Tuesday outside the gym in the 1000 block of South Pearl Street.
He allegedly asked several young children ages 3 to 6 to get inside his vehicle, but their parents either ignored him or told him to leave them alone.
The man persisted with a 12-year-old boy who was standing alone outside waiting for his mother to pick him up.
He asked the boy if his parents gave him an allowance, a car and a house key.
The man “then offered all of these things, along with a larger allowance, if (the boy) would get into his car so (the man) could take (the boy) to “the man’s) house,” prosecutors wrote in charging documents.
The boy ignored him and told his mother what happened when she picked him up.
The mother went back to the gym, took a picture of the man with her cell phone and called 911.
When officers arrived at the gym, the man was still standing near the door.
He “appeared to be acting strangely and denied having any weapons,” records say.
Police asked to frisk him and the man ran away, crossing a heavily trafficked South Pearl Street and making it to a state Route 16 on-ramp before being stopped by thick blackberry brambles and bushes.
The man allegedly admitted to speaking to children but told police he did so because one of the kids had a “gang ledger” he wanted to see.
At the time of the incident, the man was out on bail awaiting trial in an unrelated case where he is charged with felony harassment and fourth-degree assault.
In that case, he is accused of breaking into his ex-wife’s house demanding a vehicle so he could buy ammunition and getting into a stand-off with police. After being involuntarily committed at an area hospital, he allegedly punched a security guard and threatened to kill him.
This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 9:45 AM.
