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MOAB — A reported kidnapping attempt of two 12-year-old boys Tuesday turned out to be a false report, officials announced on Wednesday.
The boys had told police that two men tried to lure them into a van with video games on Tuesday evening while the boys walked on a road that leads from Grand County Middle School to Grand County High School, according to a press release issued by the Moab Police Department Wednesday morning.
"We have positively determined that the two children fabricated the abduction report," a news release issued Wednesday evening by Moab Assistant Chief of Police Bret Edge stated.
Police are no longer seeking information on the men or the van that was falsely reported to be involved, the release read.
Earlier Wednesday, follow-up interviews had been conducted to determine the veracity of the report, Moab Police Chief Jim Winder told KSL.com.
"The facts that we received at the time obviously gave us a great deal of concern. We're taking it really seriously," he said.
The boys had told police that a "tall and white" man wearing black gloves got out of the van and tried to lure the boys inside. When the students refused, another man wearing white gloves exited the van. The two men each grabbed a boy by the wrist and attempted to pull them into the van, the students said.
The boys told police they "fought the men off" and ran to the nearby high school where they met with one of their parents and explained what had happened. Police interviewed the two "visibly distraught" boys and canvassed the area for the van but were unable to find the vehicle.
There was an increased police presence at all schools in the area Wednesday as a result of the report.
The boys had also told police the van was driven by a female.
Police received tips through social media with vehicle description that "matched to a T" the vehicle description provided by the boys. However, police were able to clear the driver of having any involvement in the case.
Police did not release further details about why the boys fabricated the report.
This incident marks the second false report of an attempted kidnapping in Utah in a little over a week. The first incident occurred on March 4 in Bountiful when a South Davis Junior High School student told police a man in his 60s approached her as she walked to the location where her parents usually pick her up and said he was there to pick her up for her father.
Police immediately had personnel investigate the incident and began to find inconsistencies in the girl's story. The next day, Bountiful police announced the girl had confessed that her report had been untrue.
Contributing: Josh Wilson, KSL TV
