ASHLAND — Ashland police are searching for a man who last week approached a teenager pumping gas in her car at Goasis and allegedly posed as security to persuade her to “come with me.”
“The man came up from behind and said, ‘Security check. Drop your pump and come with me,’” read a post from Ashland Police Division’s Facebook page.
As of Thursday, a week after the incident, police have no leads.
Sgt. Curt Dorsey, an Ashland police detective, has been assigned the case. He said he continues to search for a blue, four-door sedan that appears from Goasis surveillance to be a Ford Fusion, possibly with New York license plates.
“The license plate looks kind of yellowish,” Dorsey said, adding the lighting in the surveillance video was not of great quality.
The victim, a 16-year-old girl from Ashland, described the suspect to law enforcement as being white, 6 feet tall and weighing around 200 pounds. He was also described as having short, white facial hair, wearing black work boots, a jacket, collared shirt and a baseball hat.
The incident happened March 24 at 10:23 p.m.
Surveillance video shows a man walking toward the gas station’s shop entrance. He then looks to his left mid-stride. As a white box truck pulls into a gas pump next to the victim, the man walks toward her.
The girl told police she heard him say something as he approached her, but didn’t hear the words. As he got closer, the words became clear: “Security check. Drop your pump and come with me.”
She told police she saw “something black” in his hand. Before he grabbed her, she told police she ran. Surveillance video, which Ashland Source obtained and viewed, shows the girl running around the back of her car toward the Goasis store.
Seconds later, the man is seen walking behind the white box truck toward Montgomery Road.
Inside, around 10 minutes later, the girl called police to report the incident.
Dorsey said police do not believe the drivers of the white box truck, and another truck that also happened to be pumping gas during the incident, were related to the incident.
Comments from APD’s Facebook post show worry about a potential human trafficking attempt, with anecdotes of similar incidents happening at Goasis and Wal-Mart.
“Right now we’re looking to figure out who it was to get to the bottom of what happened. We have no idea what his intentions were. We can all speculate and think the worst, but we don’t know for sure,” Dorsey said.
As for human trafficking being present and an issue in Ashland, Dorsey does not believe that is the case.
“As far as I know, we don’t have any other reports,” he said, adding police and detectives would be privy to that information. Dorsey said the incident that happened last week at Goasis appears to be isolated.
Ashland police Chief Dave Lay said human trafficking, in general, is a problem, but not to the point it should be a concern for Ashland residents.
“We don’t have any concrete evidence that this was a human trafficking case,” Lay said, adding he is not aware of any human trafficking cases Ashland police have investigated in recent years.
There are some similarities between this incident and other abduction cases, the chief said.
“It’s what people do when they’re trying to control you, strike fear in you. They entice you with some offer that seems too good to be true,” Lay said.
The girl did what law enforcement encourages people to do in those situations.
“They should always trust their instincts. If they feel like something is not right, create distance and notify someone. Call 911 and let us know what’s going on and we’ll investigate it,” he said.
Lay characterized the comments on social media as “genuine concerns.”
“We understand those concerns. We’re doing everything we can to determine the motives of this individual,” he said.
It is unlawful, and could lead to misdemeanor charges, to impersonate a security guard, Lay said.
But “if he was posing as a security officer with the intent to abduct, that’s a felony offense,” the chief said.
Finding the intent, then is paramount — and why police are working to locate and identify the suspect.
Dorsey said police are investigating and, in the meantime, patrolling that area — a common hub for travelers using I-71 and U.S. Route 250 — a little heavier.
“We patrol that area heavily anyways. But when a report like this happens, our people pick it up extra. So yeah, there’s extra patrol out there,” he said.
Other measures, Lay said, involve searching for additional surveillance video at nearby businesses.
Those with information are encouraged to call Ashland Police Division at 419-289-3639, where tips can be submitted anonymously.
