<bt>Denise King lives near Wakefield Park and is a regular customer at Audrey Moore Recreation Center at Wakefield Park. Although the recent sexual assault alarmed her, she never felt unsafe at the park.
"There's always people there," she said. "I've taken my kids there. I feel it's safe. I'm not going to stop going."
Suzanne Murphy grew up near the park and used to walk to Wakefield with friends on a regular basis. Her parents never worried about it.
"When I was growing up, the park was fine," she said.
Both women were surprised to hear about the incident that occurred on Saturday, Sept. 26. According to Fairfax County Police, a 12-year-old boy was approached in a locker room and then taken to a stairwell by a man, who sexually assaulted him.
"You're always surprised when you hear something like that," Murphy said.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, the boy had been dropped off at the recreation center earlier in the day. A man approached the boy in the locker room and offered him an undisclosed amount of money to perform a sexual act. The man took the boy to a stairwell and sexually assaulted him, police sources said. The man fled the park in a bluish-gray convertible sports car. The boy went home and told his parents about the incident the next day. The boy was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital for examination. The suspect was described as black, 30 to 40 years old, 5 feet 6 inches to 6 feet tall and weighing 200 pounds. He had black hair, brown eyes and freckles on his face, police sources said.
At the time of the assault, Wakefield Park was part of a safety audit, along with Lee District Park and 23 other non-park county facilities, said Judy Pederson, Park Authority spokesperson. The study, called the Fairfax County Security Review, is being conducted by Sako Inc. It's scheduled to be completed this fall, said Pederson.
PEDERSON did note the one occurrence was low compared to the amount of visitors at the park annually. The Audrey Moore Recreation Center had 357,267 paid admissions for FY ‘03. Fairfax County parks average 4.5 million visitors a year.
"You're going to have a criminal element always," Pederson said. "I'm not sure we know at this stage what we can do. We're going to be talking at the senior level to see what the next step is.
"I'm a parent," Pederson said. "I know what it's like to worry about 12- or 13-year-olds."
North Springfield resident Gwen McHugh visits the park with her children.
"My kids are either with me or in sight," McHugh said. "As parents, you have to take responsibility for your children. It's not the county's [responsibility], but they do need to provide a level of security."
Although King felt safe with her children there, too, she didn't let them run free.
"When my kids are there, they're with me," she said, although mothers are not allowed in the men's locker room where the assault occurred.