Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office reported that on Feb. 19 the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office released a safety alert for motorists traveling the areas of Calistoga Road and Porter Creek Road at night. The alert relates to a series of suspicious events occurring over the past two months in that area.
Sonoma County received two separate reports of a male subject following female motorists along the rural route, tailgating the women and flashing his lights at them in an apparent attempt to get them to pull off the road, said Bauman.
In one of the reports, the female driver did pull over and after the man told her to call 911 to report a motorcycle accident, he tried to open her door and she fled the area. Bauman said the suspect vehicle in that incident was described only as a black SUV.
A third incident was reported to Sonoma County authorities in which a man jumped out from a hillside along the route and laid down next to the roadway as the female driver passed. Bauman said the woman did not stop and there was a suspicious vehicle, possibly a blue sedan with a spoiler, parked along the road in the area.
He said the incidents reportedly all occurred between the hours of 6:30 p.m. and 2 a.m. The suspect is described only as possibly being a white male with his face partially concealed with either a bandana or turtle-neck pulled up about his face.
Bauman said residents commuting in and out of the Lake County are reminded to avoid stopping for anyone on rural routes unless the circumstances clearly demonstrate a need for immediate assistance, such as an obvious traffic collision.
Motorists encountering a pedestrian on rural routes are otherwise advised to continue to a well-lit, preferably populated, area before stopping to call and report suspicious circumstances, Bauman added.
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