Police are asking the public for help after two Sherwood Park children were approached Monday in pair of separate incidents involving a man driving a white cube van.

Strathcona County RCMP began their investigation Monday afternoon after a nine-year-old boy walking home from school on Pine Street was approached by a stranger.

A man driving a van at around 3:45 p.m. got out of his vehicle and asked the child if he wanted candy, police said Wednesday.

The boy refused, but when he began to run home, the suspect began jogging in the same direction.

The boy was able to get home safely and told his parents what happened, police said.

The suspect is described as having a dark complexion and wearing a black hoodie with two thin, grey stripes, a black coat, boots with red Velcro and a grey face covering.

He was driving a white cube van marked by a thick blue stripe and a thin grey pinstripe nearer the bottom, and a raised rear end decorated with graffiti.

'They appear very similar in nature'

That evening, around 7 p.m., a 14-year-old girl was walking on Lakeland Village Drive when she suspected a cube van driving slowly beside her was following her.

When the girl began run, the driver got out of his vehicle and began running after her, police said.

As the girl approached a nearby park she noticed the suspect was no longer behind her.

The suspect in that incident is described as a man in his mid-thirties, with tanned skin, 5'8 to 5'10 tall, with a round face and stocky build.

He last seen wearing a grey baseball hat, skinny jeans, white Van sneakers and a baggy black-and-grey hoodie.

The white, older panel van he was driving had rust around the wheel wells and a solid horizontal blue strip, police said.

RCMP continue to investigate the cases.

"While they appear very similar in nature, we cannot at this time, definitively say they are the same person and or vehicle," police said in a release.

"We will continue to investigate and appreciate any public assistance."

Anyone with information is asked to contact RCMP or Crime Stoppers.