Police claim the suspect admitted luring Lewiston students to his car.
LEWISTON – Police say Jeremy McCown admitted to pulling a 13-year-old girl into his car Friday morning and making sexual comments to her while he drove around the neighborhood.
A 22-year-old Lewiston High School graduate, McCown was arrested Friday night after police identified him as the man who stopped the teen on her way to school, lured her to his window and yanked her into his car.
Police say he did that after attempting to lure other Lewiston Middle School girls into his car on Thursday and Friday mornings.
McCown was charged with kidnapping and attempted kidnapping.
Tuesday morning, while local school officials were preparing a letter about the incident to send home to all parents, McCown was transported from the jail to 8th District Court to make his initial appearance.
A tall, stocky man with a crew cut, McCown did not enter a plea. That will come later if he is indicted by a grand jury.
But, according to a statement filed in court by the officer who arrested him, McCown admitted to the crimes before he was arrested.
Green car
The investigation leading to McCown’s arrest began Thursday morning when the first of three Lewiston middle-schoolers went to the school police officer to report that she was stopped by a man in an old car while she was walking to school.
Officer Timothy Darnell said the girl came to him at about 7:20 a.m. to report that a man approached her on Vale Street and asked if she wanted a ride to school. The girl said the car had driven by her three or four times before stopping.
Soon after, a second girl reported that she was approached while walking on College Street at about 7:15 a.m. According to Darnell’s statement, this girl said the man tried to grab her arm but she was able to run away.
Both of the girls described the man as having short hair.
Darnell returned to Lewiston Middle School Friday morning and waited on Vale Street in an unmarked police car.
The officer stated in his affidavit that he spotted a dark green Ford Fairmont and he recognized the driver as Jeremy McCown from his years at the high school. But, since one of the girls had described the car as blue, Darnell didn’t suspect McCown until both students ran to his car and identified it.
Third student
Darnell had returned to Lewiston Middle School to take statements from the two girls, when the assistant principal came to his office with a third student.
That girl told the officer that she was walking on Pine Street when a green car drove past, took a left on Jefferson Street, then turned around and stopped. The girl said she could not hear what the man was saying because his window was rolled up, so she opened his car door and asked what he wanted.
At that point, the affidavit says, McCown grabbed the girl by the arm and pulled her into the car, ripping her sleeve.
The girl reported that the man reached over her to shut and lock the door, then he drove around the neighborhood. She said he told her that she had nice boots, then he attempted to push her legs apart while asking graphic questions.
Darnell said the girl became upset and told McCown that he wasn’t driving toward her school.
McCown then drove from Main Street to Campus Street, where he dropped off the girl, the police affidavit says.
Bail set
As soon as police found the green Fairmont in a Lewiston parking lot, Darnell and another officer drove to the location with two of the students.
“As we pulled into the parking lot, both girls not only pointed out the car but they also pointed out McCown who was standing in front of his place of work smoking,” Darnell wrote in his statement.
The officers went back to make the arrest after returning the girls to school.
According to Darnell, McCown told them that he stopped the girls and said the things that they accused him of saying.
A District Court judge ordered McCown, a former high school football player, to be held in Androscoggin County Jail on $25,000 cash or $50,000 in property. According to a state prosecutor, he does not have a criminal record.
In reaction to last week’s events, Lewiston Middle School Principal Maureen LaChapelle made an announcement Tuesday afternoon on the school’s intercom system, reminding students not to talk to strangers and not to approach strange cars.
She has also asked homeroom teachers to talk to their students Wednesday about safety tips and she has written a letter asking parents to do the same.
“There doesn’t seem to be any panic,” LaChapelle said. “We just want to reinforce what we’ve been saying to students all along.”
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