Van Follows Girl Near Uplands Elementary

 Girl Followed on Glencraig & Orchard Circle

Nanaimo RCMP are investigating an incident from yesterday morning where an eleven year old girl walking to school reported being followed by a van with two males in it.

Police were notified around 9 AM of the incident that occurred at approximately 8:36 AM. The mother of the girl told police her daughter was walking along Glencraig when she saw a van turn around and begin following her. She said the van stayed about ten feet behind her and followed her for several minutes as far as Orchard Circle. The girl became nervous and used her cell phone to call her mother. She held the phone up so the occupants could see she was making a call and believes this caused the driver to pull a U-turn and leave the area.

The girl carried on to her school(Uplands Elementary) and told the principal who in turn called police. Three officers attended,interviewed the girl and then began canvassing area residents. Parents of children attending the school were notified by an advisory released later that day. A resident living on Orchard Circle was spoken to by one of the officers and recalled seeing a similar looking van driving through the area earlier in the day but did not find any thing suspicious about it.

The van was described as being either green or blue with a silver bumper and garden tools on the back . The driver is believed to be a white male, 20-30 years old with a goatee and wearing a black hoodie. A male passenger, around the same age ,was seen wearing a yellow T-shirt and a red baseball cap.

“ Through neighborhood inquiries our members were able to put the van in the area of Orchard Circle just prior to it following the girl. Hopefully someone else on their way to work also saw it and will contact us with that information. No words were exchanged between the occupants of the van and the girl and it did not attempt to pull up beside the girl ” said Constable Gary O’Brien, media spokesperson for the Nanaimo RCMP.

Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact the Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345.