Cowlitz man faces luring charges for allegedly trying to get Woodland student into his truckFree

A Cowlitz County man is facing luring charges for allegedly trying to talk a 12-year-old girl into getting into his truck at her bus stop, according to the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office.

James Lee Porter, 57, of Woodland was arrested Wednesday for luring and booked into the Cowlitz County Jail, according to a statement from the agency.

On May 31, the Woodland School District alerted the sheriff’s office that a man attempted to lure a 12-year-old student.

The student told deputies that a man she didn’t know approached her at her bus stop on South Cloverdale Road, a rural road north of Woodland, and repeatedly tried to talk her into getting into his vehicle. The man reportedly said there were two scary men nearby who were approaching, though there was no one else in the area.

On Tuesday, the student told her bus driver that she had just seen the same man drive past the school bus in the same vehicle.

Deputies used school bus video to determine that the suspect vehicle was a white Toyota truck with a cargo rack, which was found Wednesday at a residence in the 2200 block of South Cloverdale Road.

Porter, the vehicle owner, was identified by the student as the man who allegedly tried to talk her into getting in to the truck.

The sheriff’s office is asking anyone with information about this incident, or other similar incidents, to contact the sheriff’s office at 360-577-3092, regarding case A24-10499.