A man in a white van grabbed a trick-or-treating girl by the arm in Kelso, Washington, on Halloween night, and a ski-masked crew forcibly stole candy from children in Lincoln City, Oregon — and in both cases, the suspects remain at large.
Two Pacific Northwest communities. Two sets of predators targeting children on the one night kids roam their neighborhoods freely. Nobody caught. Nobody charged. This is what it looks like when the social contract breaks down and ordinary Americans are left to fend for themselves.
In Kelso, police say a man wearing a black hoodie and dark jeans stepped out of a white utility van just before 7 p.m. and grabbed a girl who was out trick-or-treating, according to WIS10. The girl told officers she got away by kicking the man in the groin. Police checked the area. They found no matching vehicle and no suspect. Shortly after, Longview police received their own reports of a van following children who were trick-or-treating. Kelso police said they are reviewing neighborhood security footage and asking the public for tips.
Roughly 200 miles south, in Lincoln City, Oregon, a group of males decked out in all-black clothing and ski masks was "forcibly stealing candy baskets from children who were trick-or-treating," according to a Lincoln City Police Department statement posted on Facebook, as reported by the New York Post and The Oregonian. Police received multiple reports from residents. One local commented under the department's post: "They came and asked my daughter for candy, thankfully her uncle called her inside." The group was last seen on Northeast Voyage Avenue near Northeast Port Lane. No ages, no specific count, no arrests.
The Oregonian noted that police described the suspects only as a "group of males" without specifying how many or their suspected age. Lincoln City police stated that theft using force is charged as robbery in Oregon — a fact that sounds tough on paper but means nothing if nobody is ever identified or prosecuted.
Washington and Oregon have been at the forefront of the progressive criminal justice experiment — lenient charging, reduced sentencing, offender diversion over accountability. When a man can step out of a van and put hands on a child, when a masked gang can rob kids by force on a holiday, and police in both jurisdictions have nothing but tips lines and security footage to show for it, the public is right to ask what these policies have delivered besides danger.
The girl in Kelso fought her way free. The kids in Lincoln City lost their candy to strangers in ski masks. The predators are still out there. And in both towns, police are asking the public for help — because the system hasn't produced answers.
