BLOOMINGTON - Police are asking area residents to be wary of a pair of men in a white van with out-of-state plates after a series of reports they approached residents with stories of being new neighbors or sales pitches.

One of the men was arrested in Springfield after confronting and badgering a 14-year-old girl, and the two have received citations in Bloomington and Springfield on claims they were going door-to-door selling items, police said. They were also spotted recently by Sangamon County and Champaign police.

"I think they're doing more than selling magazines," said Bloomington Police spokesman David White.

Bloomington Police aren't releasing the identities of the men, White said, but they are asking people to be wary of a white conversion or work van with Georgia or Missouri license plates.

White said his department first encountered the pair late last month, when an officer stopped a van with Georgia license plates at the intersection of Arrowhead and Hershey drives. Residents in the area called police after one of the men approached a woman outside her home and gave a suspicious story about being a new neighbor.

White said the van driver said at first he hadn't spoken to area residents, but then said he had been selling magazines. He was given a city ordinance citation for selling without a permit.

And White said a man with a similar description approached various Lancaster Heights apartment residents Friday with claims he was a new neighbor. He said the man was confronted by an apartment manager, and the man told the manager where single women lived in the Normal complex.

That report indicated the man had a white van with Missouri plates, White said.

White said Bloomington Police Chief Roger Aikin wanted to let the public know to be wary of the men.

"Roger was kind of worried that, if we don't do something to let the public know that this guy's driving around out there in several different towns, you know, he might try to pick up somebody and we really didn't get any word out," White said.

Man arrested in Springfield

Springfield Police Lt. James Henry said one of the men, a 25-year-old with a Missouri address, was arrested Oct. 4 on a disorderly conduct charge. He was accused of going to the home of a 14-year-old girl, telling her he wanted to talk to her parents, calling her a liar when she said they weren't available and returning to the home a second time.

"He clearly scared the little girl with both his demeanor and the way he challenged her as far as where her parents were at," Henry said. "She thought, the second time, he was going to come up and he was going to try to gain entry to the house."

Henry said the man had been going door-to-door in his city, "asking for baseball money and badgering residents." He said he could not divulge the man's criminal history, but added his behavior indicated he is probably fairly dangerous.

The 25-year-old from Missouri was also cited with peddling without a license based on the 14-year-old's statement the man was trying to sell something, Henry said. But the lieutenant said, from what he can tell, "He wasn't trying to sell anything."