Boy Frightens With Kidnapping Tale

By VICKIE CHACHERE, AP
07:17 PM ET 03/30/00

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Scores of police and dozens of frightened parents converged on an elementary school Thursday after four children reported seeing a little girl being kidnapped.

But after a tense investigation, police said it turned out to be a tall tale concocted by a 12-year-old boy with a history of making things up.

``There's a lot of relief,'' said police spokesman Steve Cole. ``We didn't want to call off the dogs - so to speak - until we were absolutely sure.''

The four youngsters, some of them screaming, ran to DeSoto Elementary School at about 8:30 a.m. saying they had seen a girl being taken away by a man wearing a ski mask.

Police helicopters flew overhead for two hours, and more than 30 officers went door to door, searching for clues and checking on registered sexual offenders who live in the area.

Some parents took their children out of classes at the 320-student elementary school.

Linda Hamilton was livid when she left with her young daughter, and blasted school officials for not responding to parents' concerns.

``I told these people that shady people were hanging around here,'' Hamilton shouted. ``I drove across town at 60 miles per hour to get here.''

Meanwhile, detectives questioned the young witnesses. Eventually, only one 12-year-old was left sticking to the kidnap story, and finally he admitted it was fiction.

``He was reluctant because he had made up another lie and gotten in trouble,'' Cole said. ``There are some other problems I'm not at liberty to go into.''

Cole said police don't know why the boy made up the story. School spokesman Mark Hart said no decision had been made yet on disciplining the boy.

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