8-year-old reports abduction attempt

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office is looking for a 60-year-old white male wanted in connection with a possible attempted abduction of an 8-year-old Gardnerville Ranchos boy.

The boy told his mother that a man in a red-and-black full-size pickup truck with a red camper shell pulled alongside him as the child walked on Jobs Peak Road about 11:30 a.m. Friday.

The boy was out of school for the Nevada Day holiday.

The driver asked the boy twice if he wanted a sweater. After the child refused, the man ordered him into his truck.

Before the child could respond, another vehicle pulled up behind the truck, and the driver of the pickup drove east on Jobs Peak Road.

"The child did the right thing," said DCSO Sgt. Tom Mezzetta.

"He refused the offer whatever the enticement might have been and immediately reported the incident to his mother, who contacted us. He got a very good description of the truck."

The boy said the driver was a white male adult, approximately 60, with short dark hair, clean-shaven and with a deep voice. He was wearing metal- frame glasses and an orange-and-black camouflage-style hat.

"We're asking for the public's help in identifying the driver and the vehicle," Mezzetta said. "All our officers are aware of the vehicle and the driver, and we've stepped up patrols in the area."

Anyone with information is asked to contact the sheriff's office at 782-9931 or Secret Witness at 782-7463, Mezzetta said.

Sheila Gardner can be reached at sgardner@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 214.