Potential abduction
12-year-old girl says cab driver tried to take her to the fair
By Elizabeth McNamara

Police are looking for a man who possibly tried to lure a 12-year-old girl into his cab on Thursday morning.
The man was driving a white taxicab with green lettering when he stopped to offer the young girl a ride to the Topsfield Fair. The girl refused the ride and was made it to school safely.
Lt. Paul Upton said the driver did not touch or threaten the girl in a violent way. But police believe he did circle the girl’s location several times before leaving, raising some suspicion.
Upton also said “lack of chargeable elements” makes this a unique case. Even if investigators pinpoint the perpetrator, police may not be able to make an arrest if the law was not broken, said Upton.
Police describe the man as white, in his 30s or 40s with a reddish or brown mustache.  Police say they are not sure whether the driver worked for a Somerville or out-of-town cab service. 
Green Cab, the only cab company in Somerville, does use white vehicles with green lettering. Bill Horan, Green Cab general manager, said he all of the vehicles and keys to the vehicles were accounted for at the time of the incident.
“I verified the keys and no vehicle was missing,” he said.
Green Cab used their Global Positioning System (GPS) to identify where the 53 on-duty cabs were during the half-hour time both before and after the girl’s report. 
“We checked who had taken a job in that area, and there were eight or nine cabs around there within that time frame,” said Horan.  “We eliminated seven of those because they were black or yellow cabs. And, out of the others, the drivers had no facial hair.”
Horan said the company cannot account for any cabs that were off duty, but he does not believe “that someone slipped through the cracks.”
School officials sent home notices and safety tips as a precaution.
“What happened had the potential to be horrific if at least just scary,” School Superintendent Anthony Pierantozzi said. “Obviously, we’re taking it very seriously.”