Prosecutors have charged a man with repeatedly trying to lure a 15-year-old girl into his car as she waited for a bus ride home from school on the Northwest Side last month. The girl calmly recorded him with her phone, giving Chicago police an image that became the centerpiece of a community alert seeking to identify him.
The girl was waiting at a bus stop in the 6400 block of West Irving Park Road around 4:20 p.m. on September 10 when a black SUV pulled up next to her, according to a detention filing. Patrick Goldman, 39, of Norridge, was the only person inside, the filing said, and the girl could see tattoos on both of his arms.
Goldman asked if she needed a ride. She declined, but prosecutors said he returned several times over the next roughly eight minutes, repeatedly asking her to get into his car despite her refusals. At one point, Goldman allegedly told the girl that if she did not get into his car, he would keep circling the block until she did, according to the detention filing.
The girl recorded Goldman with her phone, prosecutors said. In the footage, he is allegedly seen sitting inside the SUV telling her to “Come on,” asking why she would not get into his car and telling her he was going to circle around.
Goldman drove away but returned a third time, pointing out that he had changed the music in his car, apparently to persuade her to get inside. The girl got up and walked toward a witness to create distance from Goldman, prosecutors said. Goldman drove away when the traffic light turned green.
He returned a fourth time while the girl was standing at the back of the bus stop with the witness. Goldman allegedly told her it was her “last chance” to get into the car before driving away.
The girl was then able to board the bus and leave. Prosecutors said surveillance video showed Goldman parking behind the bus stop and running toward it, apparently looking for the girl, but she was already gone. The footage also showed him circling the block and stopping near the girl four times between 4:18 p.m. and 4:26 p.m., according to the allegations.
The girl provided police with the SUV’s license plate number and CPD issued a community alert the next day that included an image from the video she recorded. Three days later, police included Goldman’s photograph in a lineup, and the girl identified him as the man who repeatedly tried to persuade her to get into his vehicle.
Judge Deidre Dyer granted the state’s detention petition, describing Goldman’s behavior as “an opportunistic effort to capture a minor.” He is charged with attempted kidnapping by deceit or enticement.
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