Every Parent’s Nightmare: Burley children describe attempts to drag them from school

UPDATE

BURLEY — Four girls described desperate attempts to fight off kidnappers in court documents filed last week that accuse two men of attempting to abduct White Pine Intermediate School students.

The Cassia County prosecutor has filed charges against Melvin Dwayne Simpson, 40, and Vadian Eugene Dougal, 50, who were arrested after multiple Burley girls reported Monday that a man grabbed them on the school grounds and tried to lure them away from school with candy, money and by telling the children they were related to him.

Another girl said a man grabbed her arm and tried to drag her across the street as she was walking to school.

The men were arrested later that day when police canvassing the area spotted them wearing clothing that matched the children’s descriptions. The men live together near the school on Almo Avenue.

Deputies searched the home and seized cellphones that will be analyzed by a crime lab, said Cassia County Sheriff Jay Heward.

One girl reported that a strange man had been photographing her Friday as she walked home from the bus stop, indicating the men may have been scouting potential victims last week.

Simpson is charged with two felony counts of attempted second-degree kidnapping and two counts of misdemeanor battery connected to the incidents at the school. Dougal is charged with one count of felony attempted second-degree kidnapping, one count of misdemeanor battery and one count of misdemeanor enticing a child connected to the student walking to school.

Each man is being held at the Mini-Cassia Criminal Justice Center on a $250,000 bond.

Both men told detectives they did not have any contact with any girls that morning.

This article was originally published in the Times-News. It is used here with permission.

ORIGINAL STORY

BURLEY — Two men were arrested last week after girls at White Pine Intermediate School reported the men tried to lure them with candy and grab their arms.

Cassia County Sheriff Detective Kevin Horak said Melvin Dwayne Simpson, 40, Burley and Vadian Eugene Dougal, 50, were arrested April 11 afternoon and will likely be charged with felony attempted kidnapping and misdemeanor enticing a child.

Horak said the men were still being questioned about the incidents Monday evening.

Debbie Critchfield, spokeswoman for the Cassia County School District said three girls at the school told school staff that they had been approached by a strange man.

Two of the girls were approached on the school grounds near the buses Monday morning, and another girl was approached in a nearby neighborhood about a block from the school as she walked to school, Horak said.

The girl walking to school was grabbed by the arm but kicked and got away from the man and ran to school where she reported the incident, Horak said.

“It sounds like it was two incidents but they happened so close together,” Horak said. “And we have one student who saw the guys together.”

The two men live in together in the neighborhood, he said.

Horak asked parents of any other students approached by the men to call the sheriff’s office at 208-878-2251.

After the incident by the buses was reported, school staff went outside but did not see the man.

The two other Burley elementary schools were notified of the incident and teachers have been told to “be on alert,” school district spokeswoman Debbie Critchfield said.

The school board is encouraging parents to “age appropriate” talks with their children regarding strangers, she said.

“We don’t want to frighten or startle the younger children,” she said. “But we will be having those conversations at the schools in the next couple of days.”

This article was originally published in the Times-News. It is used here with permission.