Human trafficking try at Beaufort Co. Walmart reported on Facebook. Here's what police say

Several recent social media posts warning of human trafficking attempts at one of Beaufort's Walmart stores have alarmed users across the county and prompted at least one police report.

The report was made to the Beaufort Police Department on Saturday. It concerned suspicious activities at the Walmart on Robert Smalls Parkway that the complainant believed could be an attempt at human trafficking, police spokeswoman Sgt. Hope Able said Wednesday afternoon.

Word of the incident spread through the Parris Island community by means of an internal email sent out to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot personnel and family members, according to an official statement from Parris Island spokesman Capt. Adam Flores.

"NCIS (the Naval Criminal Investigative Service) was notified on March 20, of the incident and has since coordinated with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office and the Beaufort Police Department," the statement read. "The Beaufort Police Department is currently investigating the incident and we will continue to support local authorities throughout the investigation process. We advise anyone that witnesses suspicious activity to report it immediately to local authorities."

The police department initially said Wednesday there were no reports of possible abduction situations at either the Beaufort Walmart or the Lady's Island Walmart on Sunday. However, a subsequent news release said that in fact such a report was made on Saturday.

Mostly identical stories have been shared through either screenshots of the Parris Island email or copied content from the email, detailing men allegedly following a woman and her two young children in the Robert Smalls Walmart and later cornering her in the parking lot.

The posts read:

"On March 18, 2018 at approximately 1800 (the complainant) went grocery shopping at Walmart located on Robert Smalls Parkway. She noticed a Caucasian gentlemen in his late 40s, tattoo on his neck ... staring at her two daughters (8 months and 7 years old). The gentlemen had a shopping basket with nothing in it. He was walking around on a cell phone keeping his distance from her. He continued following her around the store from a distance and seemed to be describing her appearance and observing her children. She could feel that something was wrong so she went to check out and told the cashier that she needed someone to follow her out to her car. The Walmart employee told her it would be no problem and told her and the kids to walk 5 feet in front of him to make it seem as if she was alone. When she and the girls were going to the car two Hispanic gentlemen cornered her. One had very dark skin, was approximately 5'3", and appeared to be in his 30s. The other gentlemen had light skin, clean appearance, 6 ft. tall, and appeared to be in his 20s. One stepped in front of the stroller and one behind the woman. They spoke Spanish and said "There she is right there." The woman froze and the two gentlemen started making movement towards the stroller. The Walmart employee immediately pushed the shopping cart in the way and pulled out his radio to say "Code Amber." The two Hispanic gentlemen took off in the other direction. The Walmart employee told the woman that the same thing had happened last week that they had to block the exits at Walmart to prevent a girl from being kidnapped. r/s Commanding Officer 3rd Recruit Training Battalion MCRD Parris Island, SC"

Able said the posts on Facebook included more detail than was initially reported to the police department, but that investigators are in touch with the woman who reported the incident and that it is still under investigation.

This is the only report of that nature made recently to Beaufort Police Department, Able said.

Anyone with information can call Sgt. Hope Able at 843-322-7942.

Walmart was not able to confirm the incident occurred but was working on going through security footage on Wednesday, Walmart spokesperson Tara Aston said late Wednesday afternoon.

A similar account was reported at the Hardeeville Walmart in January, which the Jasper County Sheriff's deemed partly unfounded.

This story was originally published March 21, 2018 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Human trafficking try at Beaufort Co. Walmart reported on Facebook. Here's what police say."