Law Enforcement Notification

May 24, 2014

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing this letter as a concerned citizen.

This past Saturday, my wife and I were driving south on I5 from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Our car broke down, and we called a repair truck which asked us to drive to a 76 gas station located at:

Hillcrest Travel Plaza: 44779 S Lassen Ave, Avenal, CA 93204 (Google Maps Street View)

While waiting for the repair truck I was approached by a girl in her early teens asking for help. She specifically asked, “Can you help me (pause)…with money (pause)…for gas?” Several things seemed odd about the situation:

1)  A middle aged man in a newer red/maroon mivi-van (Dodge Caravan) was parked on the side of the parking lot watching out of his rearview mirror while the girl asked for money. If this was her father, what type of father let’s their 13 or 14 year old teenage daughter approach strangers at a gas station/truck stop in the middle of nowhere?

2) The minivan had been circling the truck stop (large parking lot), which seemed odd if the car was low on gas.

3) The girl only approached me, and no one else in the parking lot.

4) After saying no, the mini-van immediately drove to the other side of the parking lot.

To make matters stranger, there is also a massive state penitentiary 8 miles from the gas station located in Avenal, CA from which inmates have escaped from in the past.  

So what happens when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up while being asked by a teenage girl for money at a truck stop in the middle of nowhere accompanied by a middle aged man in a minivan who didn't assist her in asking for money while located 8 miles from a major penitentiary? We called the Avenal Police Department. Calling 911 didn't seem appropriate at the time because no emergency had actually occurred and we could simply be wrong in our impression.

At 7:57pm on Saturday May, 17, 2014 I called the Avenal Police Department to offer a tip about the girl at the gas station. A person took down the information, my name and phone number.

Four days later, my wife and I were returning home from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and I decided to call my credit card company to find the exact time of my credit card transaction. I assumed having the exact time stamp (6:41pm on May 17, 2014) of when I was approached, what direction the vehicle was facing for plate numbers and a picture of the girl might be helpful in narrowing down searches on a security camera.

So at 11:14AM on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 I called the Avenal Police Department a second time. I explained I had called on Saturday with information about the teenage girl, and had an exact time she was at the gas station if helpful for an officer investigating. The dispatcher’s response floored me.

“Oh that 76 gas station is just outside of our jurisdiction. You’ll have to call Fresno County Sherriff for that.”

I proceeded to call the Sheriff's department, gave them the same information, but at this point it was 4 days old. A Google Map image shows the Avenal city limits with the location of the truck stop.

I had heard stories about the I-5 Freeway being a major pipeline for human trafficking and sex slavery, but that had always been “them,” which is always the case until you find yourself stranded waiting for a repair truck at a truck stop on a random freeway.

The day after returning home I took the image below from a story on CNN and couldn't help but think about the girl at the truck stop. Considering the attention lately of women being kidnapped and held for long periods of time that this would at least warrant minimal investigation.

I have no idea if anyone from law enforcement actually ever followed up, and I’m aware this can’t be disclosed to me. I understand the Police Department and Sheriff’s department are resource deprived especially on a Saturday night for an event that wasn’t actually a crime, and simply something that seemed out of place. I realize the Avenal Police Department was only formed within the last few years and likely has few officers to assist. However, while perhaps the girl was simply someone out of gas at a truck stop whose father felt comfortable letting his daughter ask for money without him, I would hate to know I was the person who could have said something but didn't.

Regardless of this particular circumstance, it is unacceptable for a call of this nature to slip through the jurisdictional red tape of city and county lines. If a tip or a crime is reported and it is outside of a city, county, or state or prison’s jurisdiction, that dispatcher should be required to pass the contact information along to the appropriate law enforcement agency or to notify the caller of the appropriate enforcement agencies to contact.

Criminals that conduct these acts don’t stop because of city lines. Maybe that is precisely why they choose the locations that they do.

I’m unsure of how to end this letter other than to ask:

1) Please, someone at least pull the license plate number.

2) Don’t let these situations fall through the cracks.

The Avenal Police Department and Fresno County Sheriff's Department both have my contact information if I can be of further help. Thank you.