OakPark Mall businesses and the Austin Police Department investigated multiple reports of a man and his son soliciting telephone numbers from teen-age girls who were shopping at the mall.

Thursday, June 28, 2001

OakPark Mall businesses and the Austin Police Department investigated multiple reports of a man and his son soliciting telephone numbers from teen-age girls who were shopping at the mall.

According to an Austin police report, the incidents were reported Wednesday afternoon.

The father and son had visited the mall’s business offices seeking employment.

However, employees of mall businesses reported seeing the pair talking to teen-age girls and following them throughout the mall. After one incident, an employee of a jewelry store approached two teen-age girls, who, she said, were crying and visibly upset.

Police were called and when the father and son were questioned, the father said they lived in Albert Lea and he was trying to obtain telephone numbers for his son, who he described as "shy."

Police checked with a stepson of the man and the story was verified.

A check of local police records did not reveal a criminal history for either the father or the son.

Van fire extinguished

The Austin Fire Department extinguished a van fire at Sterling Shopping Center Wednesday afternoon,

According to an Austin Police Department report, a man was cleaning carpets in an apartment building behind the shopping center. When his rug-cleaning equipment lost power, he looked outside the building and saw smoke coming from his van.

The man raced to the van and pushed it away from buildings and called the Fire Department for help.

The fire was quickly extinguished by firefighters, who received the call at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

The cause of the fire and a damage estimate was not immediately available.

Some fuel poured into a nearby storm sewer, but firefighters flushed the sewer with water to relieve contaminant worries.

Money missing

The Veit Demolition Landfill Facility reported the theft of cash and checks from an office.

According to a Mower County Sheriff’s Department report, the office manager of the Lansing Township business along U.S. Highway 218 North discovered the money missing.

According to Jim Adams, the more than $200 in cash and checks was in a money bag in the office at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday. When Adams went to prepare a deposit slip for the money at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, he discovered the money missing.

Call Lee Bonorden at 434-2232 or e-mail him at lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com.