Police are warning the public about a potential sexual predator after receiving a report that a man made sexual advances toward a 13-year-old boy at the Squamish Public Library Tuesday (Jan. 5).
The man approached the boy at 2:15 p.m. in the library parking lot between Second and Third Avenue, as the boy was leaving the library after a scheduled meeting. He was "propositioned to join the male in return for money," according to a RCMP news release.
"It was what we would call an invitation of sexual touching that's what we're investigating," said RCMP Cpl. Dave Ritchie.
The boy told the suspect to go away and walked toward another male stranger on Third Avenue, causing the suspect to turn around and possibly return to the library, stated police. The boy didn't engage the man he approached, but RCMP is now hoping to speak with him as a possible witness, said Ritchie.
The boy told police he recognized the suspect from the library he had been sitting in a cubicle and had a laptop with him.
He's described as between 25 and 35 years old, of medium build, between 5'7" to 5'9" in height with a medium complexion. He was wearing blue jeans, a t-shirt and a toque, which was possibly blue.
He was also reported to have a neatly trimmed beard or goatee with a moustache and was carrying a laptop computer.
Police reviewed video footage of the area to no avail, but they are investigating tips from people who know of the incident, said Ritchie.
Meanwhile, he warned that false information has been spread regarding the possible identity of the suspect. The Chief received an email being circulated that wrongly describes the man as Hispanic. The email also wrongly states the boy is 10 years old and that he was approached on Wednesday (Jan. 6).
"People putting out false information causes a lot of problems for people in certain ethnic groups. And if people take it into their own hands, they could have lots of problems," he said. "We know he's not fair-skinned and he's not dark-skinned. We're putting it as olive complexion. Hispanic is being ruled out as far as what the child saw."
Part of the reason the RCMP took several days to issue the public warning was to avoid mistaken identities that could lead to such problems, said Ritchie.
"There always is concern about how detailed to go with a person of interest in this regard and causing maybe somewhat of alarmist... or mis-identity causing people to take things into their own hands.
"People get very defensive about issues like this with people involved, and we understand that. So we're concerned that if we put something out, that we try and be as the most accurate as we can."
Police are asking anyone who was in the area of the library and may have seen the suspect to contact them by calling the RCMP detachment at 604 892-6100.
