There is not enough evidence to link an incident in a local park to sex trafficking, according to the Siloam Springs Police Departent
A post made on Facebook details an incident in Bob Henry Park on Saturday, Aug. 5. The writer described the incident as a possible sex-trafficking operation.
The Police Department issued a pair of press releases about the incident.
The post, which as of presstime had been made private, detailed an incident in Bob Henry Park, according to a press release. The post had been shared on Facebook more than 6,000 times.
The author of the post wrote she was visiting the park with her children when a male, described as a Hispanic man in his mid 30s and a two- to three-year-old girl walked up to her. The post said the man allegedly touched the woman's dog and later used his cell phone to video her.
According to the press release, the alleged incidents in the post made the woman uncomfortable to the point that she left the park with her children.
The woman wrote that she was made more uncomfortable when three more men arrived as she was leaving the park, and said they attempted to impede her departure.
The woman called the Police Department's non-emergency line, but was unable to complete the report due to lack of cell phone charge, the release states.
An audio recording from Saturday's call released to the Herald-Leader confirmed this.
After returning home and interacting with other people, the reporting party received opinions and advice, including advice to post the incident on social media and the opinion that the incident could be related to sex trafficking, the report states.
The woman did not speak to police until Monday, the report said.
Siloam Springs Police Deputy Chief Geoff Lewis said that recording someone in a public area is not a crime, and that whether a crime had been committed is still under investigation.
As of presstime, the Police Department had no information that supports the theory that the incident is related to sex trafficking, the press release states. The incident is under investigation, and the department is seeking to identify and interview the people involved in the incident, the release states.
In addition to the previously mentioned male, the department is investigating three other people, described as Hispanic males with short black hair in their early or mid-20s, according to the report. A vehicle associated with the incident was described as a red, late model, possibly 2016 Chevrolet 1500 4-door pickup truck with a red grill.
Anyone with information related to the incident is asked to contact Sgt. Chase Fine with the Siloam Springs Police Department Criminal Investigation Division at 479-524-4118.
General News on 08/09/2017