Crime spikes close to Elkton

The Elkton Road and West Park Place areas recently saw a string of crimes since students returned to campus after Thanksgiving break, including an attempted kidnapping of a young girl, multiple incidents of indecent exposure and an armed robbery of a delivery driver, according to police.

The suspects involved in each incident remain at large. Police continue to investigate the crimes, calling on local residents for information.

Police continue to investigate the attempted luring of a 14-year-old girl at the intersection of Dallas Avenue and Apple Road Wednesday at 5 p.m. The girl was walking down Dallas Avenue at the time when she was approached by a man in a white van.  The man asked her if she need a ride home, and when she refused, he told her to "get in."

The girl then fled on foot, and the van was last seen leaving the area westbound on Dallas Avenue toward Elkton Road.

Police are encouraging those who may know the identity of the suspect, who is described as a balding black man, 30 to 50 years old with a scruffy beard and multiple tattoos on his neck, to come forward with information. The suspect's van is described as an older-molder white work van with no rear or side windows.

An incident involving indecent exposure was reported a day after the attempted kidnapping, the fifth in a series of similar crimes since early October. A woman walking on Devon Drive reported that she saw a half-naked man walking in the area.

She described him to officers as a white man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and no pants, between 25 and 28 years old, 6 feet 2 inches to 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighing approximately 180 to 210 pounds.

The woman said as she walked past the man, he appeared to be touching himself in a lewd manner. A similar incident occurred Nov. 28, when a man, approximately 35 years old, was seen walking down West Park Place with no clothes on.

Two days earlier, a man walking home on Willa Road near West Park Place reported an unknown white man following him, and he appeared to be masturbating. On Oct. 13, a white man was seen streaking on Apple Road near Elkton Road, and one week before that, a 30-year-old white man, wearing a plaid shirt and no pants, was seen jumping out of the bushes near the Rittenhouse Station construction site, police said.

Newark police believe the same person, described as a white man between 25 and 35 years old, has been committing the acts of indecent exposure this fall.

The latest criminal activity in the area involved an armed robbery of a delivery driver on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in the parking lot of 260 Elkton Road. The driver, a 27-year-old Newark man, had completed a food delivery and was returning to his car when he was approached by a man, who displayed a handgun and demanded the driver's money.

When the victim produced all of the cash in his possession, two other men grabbed the money while the suspect holding the handgun removed the victim's wallet from his pants.

The suspects, described as high school-aged black men wearing black clothing, then fled on foot toward the area of Madison Drive, according to police.

Those with any information regarding these incidents should contact the Newark Police Department at (302) 366-7111. Anonymous tips can be sent to police by texting 302NPD and the message to TIP411.