Madison police are investigating reports that a man tried to lure children into his car using Pokemon Go.
Madison police said a man in an older model gray/silver BMW series approached children near the West Wharf Beach parking lot around 8:20 p.m. Tuesday and asked them to get into the car to go find Pokemon. The man might have been looking specifically for children playing the game on their cellphones, according to police.
"My son and his friends come back to the blanket where we are watching the movie and just casually mentioned some guy asked him to go into his car and he’ll bring them to go get more Pokemon," said Lisa Peterson, whose 9-year-old son was approached by the stranger.
None of the children got in the car and no one was harmed. Witnesses reported the man drove through the West Wharf parking lot several times, trying to find children.
"It’s off the phone, shame on me for allowing it in the first place,” Peterson said. "There were a lot of other parents that ended up talking to the police officers also saying the same thing happened to them."
The driver is described as a man in his early- to mid-20s with short blonde hair. The BMW was described as having a Connecticut early American license plate, and the first to letters might be IA.
Anyone with information on this incident should call Madison police at (203) 245-2721. Police remind parents to report any suspicious person who approaches their children immediately.
