Police chief responds to social media accounts of suspicious activity in local stores
Meadville Police Department has increased its presence in the parking lots of Vernon Township stores that have been the subject of recent social media reports of suspicious activity, including at least one purported near abduction, according to Chief Michael Stefanucci.
None of the accounts has been confirmed by police, according to the chief, and only one has been reported to police.
"I don't think people should be too worried," Stefanucci said. "However, if anyone has any real first-hand information I would encourage them to notify us so we can look into it."
After seeing a Sept. 5 account of a woman who felt threatened during an encounter while visiting the Meadville location of Tractor Supply with her two children, Stefanucci told officers to increase their visibility around Tractor Supply, Walmart and other stores in the area. Stefanucci said he had seen similar accounts crop up on social media before, but he was not aware of any that had been substantiated in the area.
The Sept. 5 account was shared more than 1,100 times on Facebook. Another post in which a man asserted that "my very young grandson was almost abducted from the shopping cart while my daughter was shopping" at the Meadville Walmart location received less traction when it was posted the next day. A Sept. 12 post involving Walmart, however, was shared more than 840 times.
"I've been seeing a lot of people posting regarding these situations over in Meadville," the post began, "and it's getting really bad and I want to bring more awareness to our community."
Stefanucci said the situation described in the most recent of the posts, in which a woman shopping with her baby felt that a man might be following her around the store, was followed by a call to the police station.
The woman who called police about the incident reported that she had decided to make a Facebook post about the event and subsequently found that others in the area had experienced something similar. The woman then told police that she did not want to come to the station and be interviewed, Stefanucci said.
Updates to the original post later added five area businesses to the list of places where similar situations have allegedly played out based on responses the woman received to her post.
No reports aligning with such claims have been made to police, according to Stefanucci. Police have a strong relationship with Walmart in particular, he added, describing the store's video surveillance as "state of the art."
"I think as long as you're being aware of your surroundings," he said, "you should be as safe there as anywhere else."
Regarding the spate of suspicious activity being described online, Stefanucci said that in at least one case he had tried to contact a person who had posted such an account. The person said they had notified Walmart and wished to leave it at that, leaving the chief somewhat skeptical.
"It's hard to say — we have not been able to confirm that any of this is actually happening, and Walmart has probably the best video available and no one's actually reported anything happening to even look for on video," Stefanucci said. "I wouldn't ever go so far as to say all these people are making this up, but I've certainly got to wonder if some of them aren't seeking some type of attention."
Another more optimistic explanation, he continued, could be that the accounts are the result of hyper-vigilance on the part of shoppers who become concerned upon taking their situational awareness a little too far.
"I'm hoping that's what it is," Stefanucci said.
