Man tries to kidnap teen then follows him home and poses as investigator, OK cops say

An Oklahoma man is accused of trying to abduct a 13-year-old boy from a bus stop, then following him home and posing as a federal investigator, according to the Enid Police Department.

Investigators say the 44-year-old man approached the teen as he was walking home after school on Aug. 17 and asked the boy if he was his son, Enid police said in a news release. The boy said he wasn’t and walked away.

But the man was apparently undeterred, as he approached the teen at his bus stop the following morning, police said.

This time, the man asked the boy if he was his other son, the release said. The boy said no and turned down an offer to get into the man’s vehicle.

The boy missed the bus and went home, police said, but a short time later, there came a pounding at the front door.

The boy’s mother answered. The man had followed him home, according to police.

He said he was an investigator with the Department of Defense and was “following up on child abduction cases,” police said.

He started questioning the mom about her son and when she asked for credentials, he flashed the back side of a DoD identification card, the release said. She wasn’t convinced.

“She asked to see the front of it and saw there was a photograph of a woman on the ID,” police said.

Police spoke with the man, who said his son is missing and that the 13-year-old “looks identical” to him, according to the release.

He was taken into custody and is accused of attempted child stealing, impersonating an officer and theft of property, police said.

The man has not been formally charged, KOCO reported

McClatchy News is not identifying the suspect because he has not been formally charged.

Enid is roughly 85 miles northwest of Oklahoma City.

This story was originally published August 20, 2023 at 9:35 AM with the headline "Man tries to kidnap teen then follows him home and poses as investigator, OK cops say."