Fifth 'stranger danger' incident reported in Wake Forest

But on Sunday, they let her walk the family pet.

Minutes later, she came running home.

“They had pulled the car up to her while she was walking the dog…they had tried to get her to come to the car,” Ramos said. “They said ‘Hey little girl come here, come over here’ were her words. And she turned around and did exactly what we told her to do, which is to run away.”

The little girl was only a few doors from her home.

Two white men in a gray or silver work van tried to coax Ramos’ daughter into their vehicle. The incident happened shortly before 10:45 a.m. in the Northampton subdivision, near the 6300 block of Ridgemount Street.

The van had no back windows and had scratches along the front and back. The driver wore a green and red baseball cap, the girl told police. The passenger had a short Mohawk-style haircut and possibly a nose ring. No other identifying aspects were known.

Sunday’s encounter was the fifth such incident in the Wake County town within a month.

Around Christmas, three children were approached by two men either offering a ride or seeking help finding a kitten, including an 8-year-old girl on Samuel Wait Lane in the Heritage Manor neighborhood and a boy on Lariat Ridge Drive in the Carriage Run neighborhood.

All three children described the vehicle as a gray or silver four-door SUV with damage on the passenger side and missing the passenger-side mirror.

On Jan. 8, a young boy was approached by a man while at the Factory Sports Complex.

“A young boy was approached by a man and said that he was to go with him, and the boy said 'my mother is right there, you're a liar,' and went straight to his mother,” said Patty Ogden, owner of Destiny Dance Institute, located at the complex, on Jan. 9.

The previous incidents led Ramos, a mother of four, to talk with her family about ‘stranger danger.’

“We’ve gone over the scenarios,” she said. “We’ve talked about what if they have candy? What if they offer kittens or a puppy?”

Ramos believes Sunday’s incident won’t be the last in the town.

"We as a community and as parents, just be vigilant about guarding our kids and not taking for granted that oh everything should be okay because it looks like a safe neighborhood," she said.