Man Lured 2 Girls Into Car, Exposed Himself

Mesquite police are looking for a man who lured two girls, ages 6 and 8, into his car and exposed himself.

Officers said the two girls, ages 6 and 8, were playing at a playground at an apartment complex in the 1100 block of Hillcrest Street.

A man in a black car offered them candy and chips and exposed himself for several minutes when the girls climbed into the car, police said.

Realizing something was wrong, they got out.

Family members said it took the two girls several hours to tell them what happened.

"They were afraid of him," said Rosemary Garza, the grandmother of one of the victims. "They were afraid he was going to come back."

"I was afraid. I was afraid for her. I was afraid for the other children who play here at the park," Garza said.

Garza said her daughter was outside playing with her mother and several other children just before the incident happened. The girl's mother decided to go inside her apartment for a few minutes. The man drove up while she was inside, Garza said.

The families of both victims said the girls know about "stranger danger."

"It just happened," Garza said. "It happens to good kids whose parents are always with them and then parents that are just her. The mom went back in, and there were 12 kids out there when this happened. And he just lured them off with candy and chips."

"Every week in the United States we get reports of this exact type of occurrence," Mesquite police Lt. Bill Hedgpeth said. "The reason the bad guys keep doing it is because, sadly, it works."

Garza said up until now her family felt safe letting the girl play alone outside as long as she was close by.

Now, that's all changed.

"It's put a fear in everybody that lives here now," Garza said. "Everybody's afraid."

Officers were able to catch the man's car on surveillance video.

They are looking for a black four-door hatchback, possibly a Nissan Versa or a Honda Fit.