Quick-thinking girl, 6, avoids abduction try

HERMON – Police are searching for a man who possibly attempted to abduct a young girl outside her Route 222 home Saturday morning.

The 6-year-old girl was playing in her front yard when a man in a brown pickup truck reportedly stopped and asked her if she wanted to take a ride, according to Dep. Ronald Sherwin of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department.

The officer said the little girl, although frightened, showed good judgment when she quickly ran in the house to tell her mother about the incident, which occurred at about 11:30 a.m. near the Hermon-Glenburn town line.

“She didn’t wait around and talk to the stranger,” Sherwin said. “The most important part of this is that she immediately ran and told someone. That showed some good training on the part of the mother or a teacher or someone.”

After the mother reported the incident, units from four area police departments patrolled the roads leading from the area, but did not encounter a pickup matching the description, Sherwin said.

The man is described as elderly, perhaps in his 60s, with a beard and wearing a red coat and blue pants, according to the officer.

Investigators said they are first going to try to determine if the truck belongs to a local man. Many out-of-towners likely were in the area Saturday because it was the last day of deer hunting season, Sherwin said.

Anyone with information should contact the sheriff’s office at 947-4585.