By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

An e-mail that has been circulating in certain areas of Savage throughout the last week titled, “Danger in Savage” created a bit of panic for some people, according to police.

The e-mail describes a situation where a strange white van pulled up to a home in the 13000 block of Ottawa Avenue where two children were home alone while their parents were at Dan Patch Days Thursday night (June 24).

Officers were told that a man got out of the vehicle and knocked on the front door, according to Capt. Dave Muelken of the Savage Police Department, and that neither of the children answered the door. Then the man walked around the house and left.

The e-mail alludes to the fact that police have been looking for this van for the last three months, but that part of the e-mail simply isn’t true, said Muelken.

Muelken said the “white van” reference is likely about an incident where a white van with blue lights was allegedly used to pull a Prior Lake woman over near the intersection of county roads 27 and 16 in January. In that incident, the woman was pulled over; a white man got out of the van, accused the woman of running a red light and speeding, but told the woman he was not going to give her a ticket.

Nevertheless, police did respond to a call of a suspicious vehicle at the home, Muelken said, but they cannot verify that the white van involved in last week’s incident was involved in any previous incident in the city.

“Police are not asking the community to do anything special, other than being aware of suspicious vehicles and contacting police as soon as possible if there is suspicious activity,” Muelken said. “In this case there was no crime committed and police cannot surmise that there were any criminal intentions with this call.”

If something is of concern to public safety, the crime prevention officer will post a press release on the city’s Web site, contact Neighborhood Watch block captains or release the information to the Savage Pacer, Muelken said.

“General e-mails are not official statements from the police department,” Muelken said. 

Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at shogendorf@swpub.com.