READ THIS: E-mail about white van unnecessarily spreading fear
Earlier today, I received an e-mail that apparently is spreading like a virus all over the South Bay. In it, a woman essentially reports another one of those "white van" incidents like Redondo Beach reported several months ago. If you remember that, men in a white van tried to abduct a woman.
A Hermosa Beach woman later reported the same thing. I haven't heard anything about that one since.
I checked on today's email, but, to me, it didn't seem legit. I called Redondo Beach police who hadn't heard of any "white van" incidents.
Torrance PD has now issued a statement saying no crime was committed today and it's pure speculation that the van in that e-mail had anything to do with what was reported in Redondo Beach a while back.
These things come up once in a while. Someone spreads an e-mail that scares everyone. I remember one about a robbery at a local mall that had a lot of people unnecessarily on edge.
So, if you got that e-mail today, please read this bulletin from the Torrance Police Department:
.
Suspicious_Van_23_July_09.pdf
A Hermosa Beach woman later reported the same thing. I haven't heard anything about that one since.
I checked on today's email, but, to me, it didn't seem legit. I called Redondo Beach police who hadn't heard of any "white van" incidents.
Torrance PD has now issued a statement saying no crime was committed today and it's pure speculation that the van in that e-mail had anything to do with what was reported in Redondo Beach a while back.
These things come up once in a while. Someone spreads an e-mail that scares everyone. I remember one about a robbery at a local mall that had a lot of people unnecessarily on edge.
So, if you got that e-mail today, please read this bulletin from the Torrance Police Department:
.
Suspicious_Van_23_July_09.pdf
3 Comments
Leave a comment
About the Blogger
Larry Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. He's seen it all - the missing model who turned up dead in the desert, the wives found dead in trunks, the high-school coaches who get a little too close to their players. He drives his young colleagues nuts with his "I remember when" stories. He welcomes your tips and observations about the present, and you can mix in a little Lakers basketball talk if you like.
E-mail Larry at larry.altman@dailybreeze.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
|
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
|
I think one of my favorite email hoaxes is the gang initiation. At night the bangers drive with their headlights off and the first person to flash their high-beams at them is required to be murdered.
No need to be afraid of white vans?
Search the terms "white van" "kidnap" and see why the public is not crazy after all.
In 3 months, a white van has been involved in attempted kidnappings in Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Covina, and South Pasadena.
There is also a suspect description in the S. Pasadena case on June 6.
Never forget Cori Desmond?
Are we really over-reacting?
Back in the olden days we reporters only had telephones and manual typewriters. This provided a layer of insulation from urban myth tipsters, demanding a personal explanation for our suppression of disturbing "news." Well, had the movie "A Few Good Men" Jack Nicholson, been made, could have suggested: 'You aren't ready for the truth.'
My lady caller (and there were many) insisted a 6'6" circus clown in full Clown Alley costume was abducting kiddies in a battered VW Bug. vanishing without a trace (presumably using back streets) and sexually mutilating them in an underground lab. How did she know it was subterranean? "Well, it had to be..." Moreover, a secret ward had been established at Orange County Medical Center to treat and hide the hellish handiwork of Bozo's evil twin, whom the press was clearly shielding.
That was the only reasonable explanation why all authorities in Orange County couldn't spot this fiend in crimson hair and white greasepaint to ground and prevent another tragedy, given all the known information.
Finally, she shrilly accused we the press us of being part of yhe problem and slammed down the phone.
I larmed a few thimgs
Don't tell dwellers in the land of urban myth they are nuts, or at best at best have misunderstood the acts.
Don't try to allay their fears, but endeavore to turn them in a new direction , like suggesting the clown/molester as moved on to San Brnardin County.
Don't assure the unspeakable wretch "is sick and needs help."
Keep a bottle of vodka or rubbing alcohol in your desk dreawer. That cleans clown makeup off your telephone receiver like a charm.