GOOSE CREEK, SC (WCBD) – A South Carolina high school senior is warning young women about the dangers of potential predators after she says a man tried luring her away while on school grounds.
Belle Dodson, a senior at Goose Creek High School, posted this Facebook message April 30 after a close call with a man she believes tried to lure her into sex trafficking.
“I never thought this would happen to me,” Dodson said.
Dodson said she was walking into the school from the gym to attend her college decision day ceremony when she noticed a car in the parking lot honking and flashing their bright lights.
“I thought it was maybe one of my friend’s cars, so I started to approach the car,” she said. “As I got closer I realized the windows were super tinted and I wasn’t aware of whose car it was so I kept my distance from the car.”
That’s when she said the man rolled his window down and tried to get her to go into the car.
“He said ‘do you want to make $1,000 dollars a day? You would never have to come back to school you wouldn’t have to go home,'” she said.
She said her immediate response was “excuse me, sir?” and that’s when she said he started waving money in his hand and said, “come with me.”
“I immediately started to turn around and walk toward the school. I didn’t want to walk too fast because I didn’t want to alert him that I may be notifying someone of what happened. I didn’t want to put myself in any more danger than I was.”
Dodson said she then heard his car door open so she began to walk faster. That is when she saw a teacher and told her what happened. She said the administration was immediately notified and then the police.
Berkeley County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Bryan James Singleton, 32, on Tuesday. Authorities say he turned himself in after he attempted to lure students from Goose Creek High School.
Dodson said the situation has her scared and shaken up.
“It was pretty nerve-wracking. I just remember being super nervous. I was shaking, but I was trying to stay calm,” she said. “I was just trying to get into school, so it was just really confusing.”
She is focused on staying strong and moving forward.
“I think my strength is coming from knowing that I have to push through,” she said. “ Being a woman, this is going to happen to me, I just have to realize that I am better than what happens to me at school. I am stronger than my weaknesses.”
Dodson will attend Clemson University in the fall and major in Biochemistry. She said she will continue sharing her story to help others.