Man accused of attempting to lure three girls from near their home

Man charged with trying to lure girls

Man charged with trying to lure girls

WEATHERSFIELD

Jeff A. Wells, 46, of Porter Street in Warren and Lodge Street in Newton Falls, was arraigned Monday in Niles Municipal Court on charges accusing him of attempting to lure three girls Friday afternoon from near their home on Heaton Boulevard.

Wells pleaded innocent to three misdemeanor counts of child enticement and one of obstructing business.

His bond was set at $2,500.

The girls’ father told Weathersfield Township police a black male approached the girls and asked them if they could help him because he was “distressed” and “continued to ask them to walk with him, saying he’d lost his son.”

The girls, ages 11, 11 and 10, ran inside their home and told their father, who called 911, Weathersfield police said.

The girls described the man as having a Pittsburgh Steelers cap on his head and a yellow jacket.

A Howland police officer who was assisting Weathersfield police spotted a man matching the description.

The man fled on foot, but a Weathersfield officer then apprehended Wells at Columbus Avenue and Harrison Street a short distance away. Wells was wearing a Steelers cap but not a yellow jacket, but Howland police later found a yellow jacket in a yard.

The children identified Wells as the man who approached them, police said.

Police later found Wells’ vehicle near the intersection of Heaton Boulevard and state Route 169 (North Main Street).