Mom’s ‘quick thinking’ leads to sex offender arrest, GA cops say. Here’s what happened

When a Georgia mother saw a man approach her daughter as she got off the school bus, she trusted her instinct and looked into it.

The mother researched the sex offender registry and recognized the man. She immediately contacted authorities, Roswell Police Department said in a March 4 news release.

The mother recognized William Howard, 71, from Roswell, after he approached her 11-year-old daughter from his car last month. The girl said Howard offered her a ride to her nearby home.

Following an investigation, Howard was arrested on a charge of enticing a child for indecent purposes on March 1.

“The quick thinking and decisive action of this parent is a model for all of us, and demonstrates well the necessary partnership between our community and the police in protecting our most vulnerable population: our children,” Police Chief James Conroy said in the release.

Howard is a registered sex offender in Florida, and police said he was previously convicted of lewd or lascivious molestation of a victim between 12 and 15 years old in 2011.

Roswell is located about 20 miles north of Atlanta.

This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 1:06 PM with the headline "Mom’s ‘quick thinking’ leads to sex offender arrest, GA cops say. Here’s what happened."