CLERMONT, Florida—Lake County Sheriff’s Office detectives have located a man who approached a 12-year-old boy last week near County Road 455 and 3rd Avenue in unincorporated Clermont and they say it was a misunderstanding and not an attempt to kidnap the boy.
The East Ridge Middle School student was walking to his bus stop around 8:30 a.m. Thursday when an older white male driving a silver SUV with tinted windows approached him.
“According to the student, the driver knew his name and instructed the student to get in his car, to which the student refused. The student stated he then called his mother and fled to a nearby home, where he waited until the bus arrived,” LCSO Sgt. Jim Vachon said in an email last week.
After locating the man and investigating the incident, detectives found that the man was a Lyft driver and was trying to find his customer. In an interesting twist, the customer has the same name as the middle school student, LCSO Lt. John Herrell said Tuesday.
“The Lyft driver approached the young man, verified his name, and told him he was there to pick him up. As mentioned in the press release last week, the young man then called his mother and fled to a nearby home,” Herrell said. “The Lyft driver has been completely cooperative. Detectives were able to verify the information he provided concerning the customer he was looking for in the immediate vicinity of that bus stop.”
