Petaluma police seek man accused of following teen in car

The Petaluma Police Department is looking for a driver suspected of following a 13-year-old girl Thursday afternoon near the Petaluma-Marin Fairgrounds and trying to get her to get into his car.

The girl said she was walking home from Live Oak Charter School within the fairgrounds at about 2 p.m. when the man, driving a white four-door sedan, pulled up next to her near Petaluma Boulevard South and F Street, rolled down the passenger window and offered her a ride, according to Petaluma Sgt. Ed Crosby.

The girl told police she refused the offer but the suspect kept following her, becoming more insistent and aggressive, demanding that she get into his car.

She ran from the suspect, heading south on Petaluma Boulevard and then west on Mountain View Avenue, Crosby said. The man continued to follow her at first, but then turned around and drove away.

The girl described the man as being in his mid-30s with dark skin, possibly Latino or East Indian, with short dark hair, reading glasses, and an acne-scarred or pock-marked face. She said he was wearing a dark button-down shirt.

She described his car as a newer-model hatchback, possibly a Toyota Prius with black seat covers that had pink “Hello Kitty” logos on them and a decal on the lower right of the back window of a “stick-figure” family.

The girl said the hatchback door may have been ajar. Petaluma police are asking anyone with information on the car or the driver to call them at 778-4372.

You can reach Staff Writer Elizabeth M. Cosin at 521-5276 or elizabeth.cosin@pressdemocrat.com.