CONNOQUENESSING — A borough man is accused of trying to lure a 10-year-old boy at a school bus stop last week.

State police Tuesday charged Richard John Dermond, 41, with luring a child into a vehicle, a first-degree misdemeanor.

Police said Dermond was driving a pickup truck on Constitution Avenue about 9 a.m. Oct. 30 when he stopped and asked the boy to get into the truck.

The boy was standing at the end of a driveway, which is a designated bus stop. He was the only child there at the time.

"He asked me if I was going to get on the bus," the boy told police, referring to the suspect, according to court documents. The child said he was, and the man asked again if he was going to ride the bus.

The boy said Dermond told him, "If the bus doesn't come you can get in with me." The child told investigators that he did not know the suspect and never saw him before that day.

Dermond, a police affidavit said, drove away west on Constitution Avenue when he apparently spotted a man who he believed to be the boy's grandfather standing near the front of the driveway.

The 70-year-old man, who recognized Dermond, told police he stands out at the bus stop every day and saw the suspect speaking to the boy.

"He heard the defendant ask the victim if he was going to school," documents said. "He heard the victim say 'yes' while the victim was stepping (toward) the truck."

The man yelled to the boy to get back from the truck, which drove away.

Investigators about 6:40 p.m. that day interviewed Dermond at the barracks in Butler Township. He admitted he was driving on Constitution Avenue when he saw the boy and stopped.

"I may have offered him a ride," Dermond said during the interview, according to the affidavit.

Police asked the defendant what he specifically told the boy. "I can't remember what exactly I said," he allegedly replied.

In addition to the criminal charge for luring, Dermond faces a summary count of disorderly conduct and a traffic violation for illegally stopping on the road.

The Butler Eagle could not reach Dermond for comment.