Multiple parents have contacted authorities in Los Angeles County about a man who has been parking his car outside an elementary school and taking videos of children, according to KTLA.
The man, whom some of the parents have referred to as a “creeper,” has allegedly parked his SUV and waited near New River Elementary School every day recently, the local outlet noted.
‘Creeper’ allegedly recording kids outside elementary school in L.A.https://t.co/BWbYvQXPYI
— KTLA (@KTLA) November 3, 2023
“I take my kids here after school and he pulls up to the door and he goes in his passenger [seat] and he puts up a little mirror, or he records them flat out,” one concerned parent, Cynthia Valdez, told the outlet.
Another parent, Sandra Rodriguez, has also called the man’s presence “concerning” and said, “It’s an adult male sitting in his car day in and day out in the passenger side with a blanket, a phone and a laptop.”
Local officials responded to the complaints from parents by noting the lack of evidence of any crime committed by the man, the outlet reported.
“I got a 90-day stay away order,” Valdez said, “but the county wouldn’t approve a permanent restraining order because he’s never laid hands on me and he’s never threatened me and he never stepped foot on my property.”
Despite city officials installing surveillance cameras and the school trying to block the view from the man’s car with a tarp, he has continued to show up, according to KTLA. (RELATED: Miami Police Officer Arrested For Allegedly Molesting Three Children)
“We have kids that we have a duty to protect and when we don’t fulfill that duty, we fail and not just as a district, but as a community,” Joseph Trevizu, former student school board member, told the outlet.
Trevizu has urged “parents and students who have witnessed this guy masturbating to file police reports,” arguing that filing police reports is “the only way to make things happen.”
Some parents took matters into their own hands and confronted the man, who reportedly called the police as he feared for his safety, per KTLA.
Responding officers did not make an arrest, telling the parents that the man had not been linked to any crime, the outlet reported.