Parents in several western and central Iowa counties are being warned about a suspicious person who’s contacting young people in an apparent attempt to offer them a movie role. Guthrie County Sheriff Marty Arganbright says a man who claims to be from Los Angeles has been communicating with teens through Facebook about making a movie early next year in Guthrie Center.
Sheriff Arganbright says the man has made contact with at least a half-dozen people in the eighth-grade to high school-age group. He says some young people responded to the inquiry, which Arganbright says sets the stage for their classmates and friends to be solicited as well. The sheriff says he was alerted to the attempted contacts by school officials.
He says students in Dallas, Polk and other nearby counties have also been contacted by the individual in question who identifies himself as “Dan Worthington.” Arganbright says he’s been in contact with the FBI, which advised him he should continue to investigate the matter. He says there haven’t been any new reports of attempted contact with students in Guthrie County in recent days, but if adults hear of any such attempts, they should contact law enforcement.
Parents in the Panorama and Guthrie Center school districts are warned about the dangers of their kids having a “public” profile on Facebook. Arganbright says there are rules users of that website should follow, especially young people. Don’t arrange to meet with someone, don’t put your picture on your page or any identifying information, such as name, home address and school. He says they don’t know what the man’s motives or ultimate goal may be in attempting to contact students. He says Worthington isn’t being charged with anything, but his intentions are suspicious.
“He hasn’t done anything wrong but we don’t know what his goal is,” the sheriff says. “When you set up something like this, you can imagine what his plan is.”
By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic