School mum on student's account of stranger danger

SANTA FE — A case of possible attempted abduction of a student at a school bus stop has a parent wondering why school administrators didn’t tell her or others about the matter.

Rickie Kastler learned of the incident in the county’s jurisdiction off Pearson Road and called The Daily News, saying she couldn’t get a response from the Santa Fe Independent School District. Kastler said she learned of the incident after her mother spoke to a school bus driver.

A man in a dark-colored Camaro drove up to a sixth-grade boy at a bus stop one morning and tried to coax him with candy and $20 to accept a ride. The boy refused, Kastler said.

“The man cussed out the sixth-grader and threatened to cut off a body part,” Kastler said of what she’d learned.

Messages left for SFISD Superintendent Leigh Wall, school police Chief Walter Braun and John Rothermel, the school board president, weren’t returned Thursday.

A deputy went to the 5100 block of Pearson Road but was given no description of a car or the man, said Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo, a Galveston County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

“All we have reported to us was a child was waiting for a bus and hears a voice in some bushes behind him, ‘come get in my car,’” Tuttoilmondo said. “The child didn’t see a person or a car.”

Deputies checked the bushes, found nothing and passed the information to school police, Tuttoilmondo said.

Santa Fe police Chief Kenneth Campbell hadn’t heard of the incident but researched police dispatch calls for service and learned there was an incident reported by the boy’s mother, a county resident, Jan. 26. The report said a man was harassing her son at a bus stop.

“There was no identifiable record of a vehicle or description of the suspect that offered her son money to get in a vehicle,” Campbell said. “With no description of the actor or vehicle, that’s a problem.”

Maybe letting students or parents know to be vigilant, nonetheless, would have been a good idea, Campbell said.

“Parents need to be aware of any close dangers,” Kastler said. “The school district’s lack of communication or concern of possible criminal activity that affects our kids is disheartening.”