Crime & Safety

Email About Carseat and Gang Initiation is an Urban Legend

Message claims gangsters are luring women with fake baby.

An official-looking email making the rounds in Strongsville claims gang members are trying to lure women out of their cars by leaving a carseat, partly covered with blankets, on the side of the road.

When women stop to check, they are dragged into the woods and raped as part of a gang initiation.

Or not.

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The email appears to be yet another urban legend -- a story that sounds plausible but actually has no basis in truth.

"I'm sure if that had happened, we'd have heard about it, and we haven't," Strongsville Detective Lt. John Janowski said.

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The email circulating here says it was sent by the Office of the Attorney General in Jackson, MS.

But according to the website snopes.com, which investigates urban legends and hoaxes, this one started in late 2009 when an employee of the Tennessee Department of Corrections sent out the unsanctioned warning. 

At least two police departments in Virginia and Oklahoma have had their names attached to the message, and both have disavowed any knowledge. The email also made its way to Australia.

"We have not turned up any reports of any gangs (much less simultaneous efforts by gangs all across the country) using carseats as lures to entice motorists out of their vehicles, nor do any of our police contacts recall encountering any such activity," according to snopes .com.

In 2010, the email was joined with another urban legend about eggs. The one circulating here includes both warnings, the latter in capital letters.

"IF YOU ARE DRIVING AT NIGHT AND EGGS ARE THROWN AT YOUR WINDSHIELD, DO NOT STOP TO CHECK THE CAR, DO NOT OPERATE THE WIPER AND DO NOT SPRAY ANY WATER BECAUSE EGGS MIXED WITH WATER BECOME MILKY AND BLOCK YOUR VISION UP TO 92.5 PERCENT, AND YOU ARE THEN FORCED TO STOP BESIDE THE ROAD AND BECOME A VICTIM OF THESE CRIMINALS," the email reads. "THIS IS A NEW TECHNIQUE USED BY GANGS, SO PLEASE INFORM YOUR FRIENDS 
AND RELATIVES."

Snopes.com also debunked that one, saying both eggs and water are thin liquids that are "relatively easy to see through," and found accounts where police officers reported their cruisers pelted with eggs and were still able to chase down the culprits. 

Motorists in Strongsville have reported having eggs thrown at their car at night in recent weeks.

But Janowski said the drivers routinely get out of their cars to check for damage, and "nothing has happened to them."

Gangs? No. Kids, he said.

"Welcome to summer in Strongsville," he said.


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