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Several towns probe incidents involving men and minors
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By PAT GROSSMITH AND CLYNTON NAMUO
Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009
The possible attempted kidnapping of an 8-year-old schoolboy yesterday morning is under investigation by authorities in Milton.
This incident follows others in which children or teens may have been targeted by strangers within the past two months in other communities:
- A Nashua teenager reported a man tried to force her into his car Saturday night on Stark Street.
- A teen in Manchester reported an attempted abduction in October.
- Last month in Keene, a middle school student walking home was offered a ride by a man described as 35 years old and bearded. <
- In Littleton on Oct. 23, a man in a green car approached a child on Union Street and offered him a ride, the boy's babysitter reported to police. The boy immediately ran home.
- A 10-year-old girl reported an attempted kidnapping in Peterborough in September.
In another case, Bedford police last night reported the arrest of a 51-year-old man after a high school girl reported she had been followed last week. Police have charged Manchester resident Dennis Buchenauer with criminal trespass, reckless conduct and endangering the welfare of a minor.
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BUCHENAUER
On Nov. 3, a man described as bearded and in his 50s followed a 16-year-old girl as she left the Bedford High School auditorium about 6:30 p.m. Police said the man never spoke or touched the teen, but followed her as she walked to and got into her car.
The teen told police the man got into a midsized dark-colored SUV or van and followed her as she drove out of the school parking lot. He turned the car around, she said, when she reached a crowded business parking lot.
Buchenauer faced $500 cash bail last night and was scheduled to be arraigned today at Merrimack District Court.
-- In the incident involving the 8-year-old in Milton, elementary school principal Stephanie Hillis said the boy was waiting for the school bus outside his house yesterday morning just south of Route 75 on Governors Road when a man in a red car traveling north on the road stopped in front of him.
"The little boy said, 'He stopped and asked me if I wanted a ride,' " Hillis said.
The boy declined, and the man drove up Governors Road, turned around at Route 75 and to the boy. The driver asked the boy a second time if he wanted a ride, Hillis said.
The boy again said no and the man drove south, heading toward Rochester, Hillis said.
The boy's mother saw the man try to pick up her son, called the boy inside and contacted authorities, according to Hillis.
Hillis said the boy described the man as being white, possibly in his 20s, and having a goatee. He wore a dark-colored sweatshirt without a hood. Hillis said the car was a red sedan.
"We really don't have a good description of the guy," she said. "The student was very sure it was a red four door."
Milton police described the car as a four-door, 1990s boxy-style, red vehicle. The driver was described as a thin man in his 20s with short dark hair and a goatee.
Parents were notified about the abduction attempt yesterday morning via an automated phone system, Hillis said. She said administrators at Nute High School and Nute Middle School were told as well.
-- Last month in Keene, a middle school student walking home was offered a ride by a man described as 35 years old with brown hair and a beard. He was driving a red sedan with two black stripes on it. The girl ran back to the school and reported the incident to officials.
-- In a September incident in Peterborough, a man in a blue rusted car grabbed the arm of a 10-year-old girl who was jogging with two friends. Police said the man had first offered to give the girls a ride before grabbing one of them. The girl was able to break free.
-- In the Saturday night incident in Nashua, a 15-year-old girl was walking about 8:30 p.m. along Stark Street, near Wellington Street, when a man jumped out of a parked car. He grabbed her from behind and tried to force her into the "boxy" vehicle, possibly a dark-colored SUV. The car had a leather interior.
The incident happened in a residential area in the north end of the city, not in the immediate vicinity of any school, according to Lt. Jeffrey Bukunt of the Youth Services Division. He said the girl's only description of the man was that he wore fleece gloves.
"There's very little to go on," he said.
Investigators issued a New England-wide teletype to law enforcement regarding the incident, but Bukunt said they received no calls back.
The incident remains under investigation, but police have not linked it to any of the other cases.
-- In the Manchester incident, a 17-year-old Manchester Memorial High School student left school in the morning of Oct. 29 to get something out of her car. As she was walking back to the school, on South Porter Street, a man in a red pickup truck pulled up alongside her.
She ignored him, and the man got out of the truck and grabbed her by the arms. Police said the girl broke free and ran into some nearby woods, hiding there until she was certain the man was gone.
The assailant was described as a thin white man in his 50s, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, with short brown hair that has some gray in it and a full beard. He was wearing a blue T-shirt and jeans.
Capt. Gerald Lessard said there have been no other reported incidents in the city, and investigators have not linked the incident to any of the others reported in other communities.
-- Anyone with any information about any of the incidents is asked to call Milton police at 652-4514, Youth Services Division of the Nashua Police Department at 594-3500; Manchester police at 668-8711 or Manchester Crimeline at 624-4040, and Bedford police at 472-5113 or Bedford Crime Line at 472-8999.
(Union Leader correspondent Lorna Colquhoun contributed to this report.)
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YOUR COMMENTS
if this guy were smart, he'd say he is muslim and the PC nitwits would've left him alone!
- fpc, bedford
If this man is innocent the surely media and UL will retract their statements.
I ask you this; How many accused pedophiles and predators are actually innocent? I would be interested in knowing if this man has any prior charges against him for violent crimes. This type of individual can coerce their victim to drop charges or hire a good attorney to get them off.
The threat of your face being put out there for all to see may deter some of these deviants.
There is probably more to this story than is printed here. Let’s wait for the whole story to unravel before we feel sorry for this man.
It seems like crimes against women and children are on the rise. If you are not part of the solution, maybe you are part of the problem.
- Ed, Manchester
To KL, Raymond,
I agree that you if this person was actually guilty. But what if this person is innocent and his life has been ruined unnecessarily? I do not think that the media is doing justice if someone is not convicted of the offense yet. Obviously everyone already assumes this person is guilty.
- J., Bedford
I think there are more pedophiles around than people think. I know of a young man who lives at the Manchester shelter and has been stalked by many older men in cars. He has reported one because of the many times one particular car did this and gave the license number to the police.
The odacity of older men stalking young kids that are on foot is outrageous to me.
They need to be reported, and put away because not all parents can walk everywhere with their children holding their hand- all day long while they attend school, or have to go places without a ride or a vehicle.
- j, Manchester
Cheryl, I couldn't agree with you more. With the exception of the teenager, why are these kids alone at these ages? Might as well hang a sign around their necks saying "take me!"
- Marie, Moultonboro
Where are the parents? NEVER would I let my kids walk alone without parental supervision at the age of 8 or 10. C'MON!
- Cheryl, Manchester
A better question might be why our society has gotten to this point? Our laws are weak and our leaders weaker. It was not simply luck that allowed my generation to be able to play outside or go to school without the fear some seem to live in today. But then we had the greatest generation in leadership positions and not these politically correct sixties hippies.
Once we had a guy running around naked in the neighborhood and all the MEN got together and went looking for the guy. Today I'd imagine the men would be the ones facing charges if they caught such a person. How far we have come in thirty five years.
- Deb, Derry
OK - It's making more sense to me now. I was listening to WMUR's news broadcast on my car radio yesterday afternoon and they said the man that had followed this 16 year old girl was doing so at twice the posted speed limit. Apparently he had made her nervous so she tried to go faster to get some distance from him and he stayed right on top of her car. Luckily she was able to pull into a busy area and he turned and ran. She was then able to safely use her cellphone to call for help.
This article is still vague and easy to confuse. I too thought it was becoming open season on men again.
- Tracy, Manchester
Now, the rest of the story. The Union Leader has been taken over by the National Inquirer. It is OFFICIAL, the UL is a supermarket tabloid, with all the attendent credentials.
- Grampa, Franklin
Happened again just today - in Windham.
Kid getting off his bus got approached by a couple in a car.
- Kyle, Windham
Soon the feds will add an addendum to NO DRUGS WITHIN SCHOOL ZONE signs. They will include: NO MEN IN VEHICLES IN SCHOOL PARKING LOT. I hope there is more to this story. Already the paper and WMUR has plastered the picture of the ALLEGED criminal. But, isn't that always the way.
- Mike, Bedford
Where are the parents? NEVER would I let my kids walk alone without parental supervision at the age of 8 or 10. C'MON!
- Cheryl, Manchester
The NHSP should convene an information-sharing meeting. This may be a ring. Good job kids and the BPD.
- John, Bow
The teen girl from Bedford did the right thing. Trust your instincts, usually they are right.
- d, manchester
Parents - Make sure your children have cell phones with camera capability.
One picture's worth a thousand words!!
- Harry, Atkinson
this situation requires community effort. It is not something that the police alone should be responsible for. This guy obviously has bad intentions and as a community...we should be binding together and on the lookout. It would be horrific to have an abducted or murdered child here in NH.
- tracy, manchester
Why do you post a picture of someone who was not even near the high school on that day, who never had a vehicle of that type and color and never had a beard. I think this is slander and you should be more careful.
*** Editor's note: The story is about multiple incidents involving men and minors. The photo is a mug shot of a man arrested in an incident referred to in the story. ***
- J., Bedford
you know since all this sexual thing came up no one can do anything anywhere near any girl or woman if you happened to come from the same place they did at the same time and you go in the same direction as they do that a person can be arrested where the hell is the law that states unless you do something we cant do nothing to protect you unless he beats you or shoots you first bob roberts
- bob roberts, berlin
On Nov. 3, a man described as bearded and in his 50s followed a 16-year-old girl as she left the Bedford High School auditorium about 6:30 p.m. Police said the man never spoke or touched the teen, but followed her as she walked to and got into her car. The teen told police the man got into a midsized dark-colored SUV or van and followed her as she drove out of the school parking lot. He turned the car around, she said, when she reached a crowded business parking lot.
OK - help me out, I read this and I wonder if more MUST have happened to warrant an arrest... after all, what if this man was just leaving the school at the same time as the girl?? If one teenager is there at 6:30pm odds are there was something going on where other kids were there too - and probably relatives of those kids. He didn't touch or speak to her. Leaving a school parking lot you typically have 2 choices, a 50% chance that the car that leaves at the same time as you will turn in the same direction. What is missing to take this to a criminal charge?
- Tracy, Manchester
No adult should be able to live within 30 miles of a school zone? are you actually quoting this from someone? ridiculous... I don't think there is a whole lot the law can do for prevention. I think this is where the parents responsibilities come in to light. I have my child in self defense classes and have given him tips on what to do in a "stranger danger" situation. I dont feel it's appropriate for an 8 year old to be standing alone at a bus stop alone either! Was this woman really watching her son from inside? If thats the case, how did the man have the chance to come around again? I feel that most parents would have come running like lightning if they saw a strange man approach their child. C'mon parents!! Our children rely on us to be responsible and protect them. Wake up.
- Jane, Manchester NH
"Quick! Let's make new laws that wildly restrict person freedom. As a mother I can't imagine this happening to my child and I hope our state officials take this matter seriously. No adult should be able to live within 30 miles of a school zone. There is just no reason for it. Think of the children!"
Just wait for it...
- Michael, Manchester
Could there be a possible link to the ones' that happend here in Manchester?
- D.J., Manchester
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