ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — St. Louis County Police arrested a man after he followed a group of children in an apartment complex, alarming parents.
Police said 44-year-old Ronald George followed some children around a parking lot while saying, "What are you running for? Come here."
He was arrested on Tuesday and charged with enticement or attempted enticement of a child, which is a felony.
It happened on the 1000 block of Adworth Drive, which is filled with apartments. People who live in the area said lots of families live nearby.
Police said an 11-year-old told them George kept following a group of kids until he saw someone watching.
“It almost makes me scared to let my kids outside and play at all. And it's just awful,” said Megan Coleman, who has three kids and lives in a home in the neighborhood.
When officers arrested George, he told them, “Yeah, I said what’s up to those kids…I like f------ kids!”
Some of these parents say they're going to have conversations with their kids tonight about safety.
Kim Blackford, who is a parent education program coordinator with St. Louis Crisis Nursery, said parents need to be on the lookout because it’s become more common for people to prey on children.
“First we have to educate them to tell somebody and when they do to listen and take it seriously and look into it as the adults who are in charge of their safety,” she said.
Blackford said it's also important for parents to talk to their children about what to do if someone comes up to them that they don't know.