GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS, OH (WCMH) — Frank Tocci has been in trouble with the law, off and on, for years including charges of public indecency and assault and robbery.
Grandview Heights Police says Tocci’s arrest over the weekend for child enticement was made after Tocci admitted offering a ride to some young teenage girls.
“He asked us to get in the car and where he could drive us or if we needed a ride,” a 14-year-old girl told a 911 dispatcher. The girls said Tocci was blowing them kisses and using hand gestures to coax them toward the car.
Instead they made note of his license plate and called police who found the car near Parkway Park about a block away.
Tocci, 53, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Monday and bond was set at $25,000. Tocci also faces a separate misdemeanor drug charge.
Jasmine Craner and her 1-year-old son joined others in the park today. “I guess I just don’t understand where people’s heads are to even consider doing something like that,” Craner said. “When I was young I was able to go over to my friend’s house and not have supervision and hearing stories like that makes me concerned that I’m not going to be able to let him go walk down to his friend’s home.”
Tocci lives a few miles away in Upper Arlington where one neighbor described how Tocci demonstrated an explosive temper when another neighbor complained about how loud Tocci was playing music. “He just went off,”the neighbor said.
NIcole Farnham live just a couple of blocks from Parkway Park. She said incidents like this remind parents to talk to their kids about such possibilities. But she said it’s a tricky balance between wanting her kids to be aware but not wanting them to be scared of life. “You cannot protect your kids against everything,” Farnham said. “I want them to live in the real world and unfortunately not everyone is nice in the real world so I think it’s just important to prepare your children to be sensible and I think the parents of those children he encountered did that.”
The Grandview Heights Police Department is asking anyone with information about Tocci to call them at (614) 488-3157What others are clicking on:
