Owasso Police: Sex Offender Takes Photos Of Kids Walking From School

Owasso police are investigating after kids reported a man was taking photos of them as they were walking home from school.

The children told police the man's behavior "creeped them out," so they told their parents.

However, the incident prompted Owasso Public Schools to send a letter to parents reminding adults and students to be alert.

The kids were walking back from Mills Elementary school when the incident happened.

Police say the girls did the right thing by immediately telling their parents what they saw.

The mother of one of the children said, "We're just taking the initiative to make sure our children are safe."

The mother didn't want her name to be known because she's frightened for her children.

She called police after her children were walking down North 120th East Avenue when a man started snapping pictures from a point-and-shoot camera.

The girls didn't feel right after the encounter and told their mother.

One of the children said, "It's just not right to take pictures of people, especially when he gave me a creepy look after taking the pictures. So, I had this internal gut feeling that it just wasn't right."

"My thought is, what are his intentions?" the mother said. "Why is he taking pictures?"

Owasso Police responded and spoke with the man.

Their investigation revealed he was sex offender convicted in the 90s for rapping a child.

Lieutenant Nick Boatman with the Owasso Police Department said, "At this point, even though the case is still under investigation, we're not certain any crime has been committed,"

He was outside of the school perimeter – sex offenders are not allowed within 1,000 feet of a school – so police don't believe any laws were broken.

Police did work with Owasso Schools and released a letter to parents.

Read the letter sent to Owasso parents

"We want to hone in on the fact that the children did the right thing, they were alert, they were aware and they did exactly what they were supposed to do in a stranger danger situation," Boatman said.

The mother hopes parents will be able to learn from the incident.

"We just want him to be aware that there's going to be people in this neighborhood watching him and we're watching over our children and we're not going to let anything bad happen to our children," the mother said.

Police say the man was working on a building in the neighborhood.

The man's name is not being released, but police say he is a Tulsa resident.