UPDATE: Reno police warn of suspicious people, say no crimes committed yet

The Reno Police Department received reports of "at least 14 incidents" in the area over the past month of women being followed by suspicious subjects, Reno Police Department Lt. Zack Thew said Monday.

In a press release sent Thursday, the department said the "specific circumstances, dates, times and descriptions vary." Thew said the incidents haven't been clearly linked together, however, he said all incidents had one common thread: No specific crimes were committed.

"We haven't identified any missing persons or victims of previous crimes that could be associated with these types of incidents. As of right now, we don't necessarily have any criminal behavior identified," he said. "With that said, we are treating this as a top priority both at Reno and within the region."

He said some of the suspicious subjects were reported as "wearing an earpiece or on a cell phone and appeared to possibly be coordinating with other male subjects in the area."

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Some women have been with their children at the time of the reported incident, Thew said. In early September, Melody Holland posted a viral Facebook Live video reporting a possible sex trafficking incident when Holland, her husband and three children were walking from the Reno Aces stadium to the Cal-Neva parking garage.

In the video, Holland said the family encountered a situation like police warned about: A large man with an earpiece was following her family too close for comfort as she noticed another man approaching them.

They made it to their car safely and were driving out of the parking garage when Holland reported seeing a black minivan with one sliding door open, a driver idling the car and another man standing near the stairwell.

Holland has since filed a report with the Reno Police Department and has been encouraging others who contact her to file suspicious activity with the police. Other women have been posting similar instances of suspicious persons on their social media accounts.

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In the majority of incidents, Thew said, there was no contact between the suspicious person and the woman, but in some instances, the suspicious person would ask about the woman's car.

Thew said some of the "circumstances were somewhat similar to scams in which people are approached in parking lots." Often, he said, the person asks about damage to a car and offers to fix it, but does a shoddy repair or doesn't finish the job to "financially gain."

"These types of scams and groups occur nationwide with bands of traveling people, and we may think that may play a part in some of these reports from what we've seen," he said noting local and federal officers "have not discounted anything."

"We understand there's been a lot of concern within the community about potential kidnapping and sex trafficking," he said. "We have been coordinating with our federal sex trafficking task force in regards to that. Although we haven't discounted that, it's important to note we haven't had any abductions and that the modus operandi in these incidents have not been necessarily consistent to what we've seen in the past in regards to sex trafficking."

The Reno Police Department provided the following safety tips:

Be alert and aware of your surroundings at all times.

Trust your instincts. If you don’t feel safe, find ways to make it safer or leave.

Have your cell phone with you.

Keep your children close to you in public.

Educate your children about stranger danger.

If you believe somebody may be following you on foot, move to a public area and contact police with any overtly suspicious activity.

If you believe someone may be following your vehicle, vary your route and driving pattern in an attempt to avoid the vehicle. If the vehicle persists in following you, drive to a safe destination such as a police department or the fire department and call the police.

Thew said there is no time limit to file a report with the department. He said filing reports sooner rather than later would help the department collect time-sensitive evidence.

Anyone who may have any information about these incidents is asked to contact the Reno Police Department at 775-334-2188, Secret Witness at 322-4900, www.secretwitness.com, or text the tip to 847411 (TIP 411) keyword – SW.

If anyone has any information on sex trafficking incidents, they can contact the Regional Street Enforcement Team at 775-334-3065 or the FBI Innocence Lost Task Force at 775-328-4000. Another way to report is to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888.

This article has been updated to include further comment from the Reno Police Department.