The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department released a computer composite Thursday afternoon of the suspect in last week’s child annoyance case, created with details provided by the Goleta Valley Junior High School eighth-grader who reported the encounter.
The 13-year-old girl worked with detectives Monday to create the sketch.
The suspect is described as a white male in his 60s or 70s with medium-length white hair and white facial hair that had a few days of growth. He was wearing a red baseball cap and driving an older, dark-colored four-door compact car with no noticeable markings or stickers, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
The girl was walking home from the school at 6100 Stow Canyon Road about 2:15 p.m. Feb. 3 when she was approached by a man in a vehicle who drove toward her and offered her a ride from the opposite side of the street. When the girl declined, the driver made a U-turn in front of the school and drove back toward her in the same direction she was walking, according to the victim’s mother, and demanded that she “get in the car!”
At that point, the girl turned and ran back to campus, and the driver sped off toward Fairview Avenue
The Santa Barbara School District sent out TeleParent calls to remind families to talk about safety with their children, and the Goleta Union School District sent letters home to parents of its nearby school, La Patera. Santa Barbara Charter School, which shares the campus with GVJHS, also sent a notice home with parents last week.
Although the responding officer did provide the girl’s mother with an incident report number and the telephone number of the Sheriff’s Department switchboard, she told Noozhawk she was frustrated with the response — she got phone calls from the school and the Sheriff’s Department on Monday, four days after the incident — but was glad the community received notice afterward.
“Anyway, the awareness was out there, which was good, but very humbling to know it was your own daughter when they have it on the news,” she said.
— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk or @NoozhawkNews.