Fake ‘parent’ call alarms officials

Investigation of the suspected attempted abduction has revealed that there was no attempted abduction, the release stated. Instead, parents of two different students called the school within minutes of each other and the message intended for one student was accidentally sent to another student, authorities said.

The message directed the wrong student to walk to the location of Great and Small Day Care where the student was to remain until the parent could pick that child up.

“It is a relief that this event is a simple mistake and not a more ominous event,” the release said.

The City and district also expressed their appreciation for the publics assistance and that of the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office and the Oregon State Police.

A male caller on Tuesday pretended to be the father of a girl at Dry Hollow Elementary, telling the school he wanted her to walk to a daycare a few blocks down the road after school.

According to police logs, when the child arrived at the Great ‘N Small Child Development Center a few blocks east of the school on East 19th Street, daycare staff called the school and said they didn’t know anything about the child coming there.

The school then called the child’s father, who said he never called the school, according to the log.

The child, who had never before gone to Great ‘N Small, was unharmed, is “doing real well” and isn’t really aware of what happened, said The Dalles Police Chief Patrick Ashmore.

“We’re very concerned and we are full-on investigating all leads,” said Ashmore. Assisting in the investigation are the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon State Police and Wasco County District Attorney’s office.

“When you start thinking about what happened, you had a little child change their route to a new location, it’s very concerning and very scary,” he said.

Police called a government information-sharing center in Salem and asked if any other jurisdictions were having incidents like this and learned there weren’t any, Ashmore said.

There will be an increased uniformed police presence at all elementary schools through the end of the school year, Wednesday, June 13.

He said of the little girl that authorities are “keeping eyes on her, a safety plan is in place and we’re making sure the right people are in the right places.”

Police don’t know if the call was a bad prank or somebody with bad intentions.

In a press release, Ashmore said “the school followed existing protocol and believed they had confirmed the identity of the caller.

“As happens on a daily basis, the school gave the child directions for a specific location where the child was to be picked up by the child’s parent.”

He urged parents to be “vigilant but not panic until more information is known about the incident.”

As for what is happening with the investigation, Ashmore said, “there’s technology out there that will allow us to research phone calls into the school.”

The father of the student works in the public sector, Ashmore said. “There’s potential motive with that for sure, but we don’t know that.”

Schools get phone calls daily from parents wanting a change in where their kids go after school, be it going to the dentist or heading to grandma’s house, Ashmore said.

He said Wednesday that law enforcement would be meeting with school officials Thursday morning to discuss the situation, and to discuss potential changes to protocol.

He said there was nothing unusual about the phone call itself.

Once school staff heard from the man purporting to be the child’s father, they told the child to go to Great ‘N Small. If criminal intent is established in this matter, the charge against the caller would be attempted kidnapping, Ashmore said.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the police department at 541-296-2613.

Those with information for the schools are asked to call the North Wasco County School District at 541-506-3420.