KCSD: Man tried to pick up student

GRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) - Investigators are looking for an unidentfied man after they say he approached a teacher at Forest Hills Public Schools' Collins Elementary a week ago and claimed he was sent to pick up a student.

The child's parents had not given consent to anyone to pick up the child, Kent County Undersheriff Jon Hess told 24 Hour News 8, and the man was not allowed to leave the Grand Rapids Township school with the student.

Hess said the man asked for the student by name, but investigators are not sure why.

"We want to know why did this person know the student's name," he said. "We have a description, we don't know who the person is. There are no cameras at the school for us to get a visual picture of htis person, but we are very concerned that someone would be brazen enough to walk into an elementary school and ask for somebody by name."

The undersheriff said the school did an "excellent job of following procedure and protocol to make sure we didn't have an incident here."

Collins notified parents about the situation.

On Wednesday, school district officials indicated to 24 Hour News 8 that they were looking at whether a family situation was involved.

The sheriff's department identified the suspect was an approximately 40-year-old white man, about 6 feet tall with short dark hair and a medium build. He was wearing a light-colored long-sleeve shirt and tan or dark dress pants, according to the release.

Hess said he did not have any reason to believe the case was connected to a series of incidents in East Grand Rapids and the city of Grand Rapids.

Investigators ask anyone with information to call the Kent County Sheriff's Department at 616.632.6125 or Silent Observer at 616.774.2345.