6th Attempt to Snatch a Child Reported : Security: Redlands woman shopping in South Coast Plaza gives the latest account. Costa Mesa police plan to work on identification of suspects with authorities from Cypress and Buena Park.

COSTA MESA — A man and a woman suspected of trying to snatch young children from their mothers’ arms at local shopping centers apparently made another unsuccessful attempt Saturday, this time at South Coast Plaza, police said Tuesday.

A 37-year-old Redlands woman told police that a man began tugging on her 2-year-old daughter’s arms as the two sat on a bench on the lower level of the shopping mall, said Costa Mesa Police Capt. Tom Lazar.

“The mother had her arms around the child while they ate cookies,” Lazar said. “She felt someone tugging hard on the girl’s arms and looked over and saw the couple. The man was pulling on the child. The mother yelled, ‘What!’ Then the man walked off. The woman smiled at the mother briefly, then also walked off.”

The report is the sixth since Thursday of a couple approaching children in Orange County. All but one of the incidents, which have occurred since Dec. 1, took place at shopping centers. In at least five of the cases, the child approached was a girl.

The Redlands woman, whose name was not released by police, said she followed the couple through South Coast Plaza, then lost them among the crowd of holiday shoppers.

The woman did not report the 6:30 p.m. incident to police or the mall’s security force Saturday. On Monday, she contacted police and said she had decided to make a report after seeing a newscast about similar incidents occurring at shopping centers in Buena Park and Cypress within the last two weeks.

“It appears from the description she has given that there is a likelihood that this is the same couple,” Lazar said. “We’ll be contacting Buena Park and Cypress police to see if we can put our heads together and identify these folks and put a stop to what they’re trying to do.”

South Coast Plaza General Manager James Henwood declined to comment on the incident Tuesday beyond saying, “We have the safest retail center in Southern California. I’m not aware of any alleged kidnaping.”

Buena Park Police Sgt. Robert R. Chaney Jr. said Tuesday that the Costa Mesa incident could be linked to reports of three similar incidents, one in a 12-store strip mall at Ball Road and Valley View Street in Buena Park, and two more at a shopping center across the street in Cypress.

A woman in San Juan Capistrano reported Saturday that two people who matched the couple’s description had pulled up in front of her house that day and began talking to her children. When the mother appeared, the couple drove away, authorities said.

“We don’t want to cause alarm,” Chaney said. “But we want everyone to know that there is a potential of a child being taken away. But that’s always been there. We want everybody to go on with their holiday festivities and enjoy themselves, but to be cautious.”

Chaney said police are working with the two mothers who reported the Buena Park incidents in an attempt to create a composite drawing of the suspects.

“It’s been difficult because the victims did not get a real good look at their facial features,” Chaney said. “We want to make sure we put out accurate information.”

The mother in the South Coast Plaza incident described both the man and the woman as 5 feet, 10 inches tall and 50 to 60 years old, with thin builds. The man had straight blond hair and the woman straight red hair, and both were wearing blue denim pants and blue denim jackets, police said.

The suspects in the Buena Park and Cypress incidents were described as a woman in her 40s with short, curly red hair and an East Coast accent and a portly, balding man in his mid-50s with dark hair.

“There are a lot of similarities and there are a lot of dissimilarities,” Chaney said of the descriptions.

Some shoppers interviewed Tuesday at South Coast Plaza said they were taking extra precautions with their children in light of the Buena Park and Cypress incidents.

“That’s why I’m holding on so tight to him,” Maggie Lizakowski, 53, said of her grandson Jake.

“I think it’s awful,” Lizakowski said. “I can’t imagine anybody being that low.”

Lisa Barisi, 30, said the recent incidents have also worried her.

“It’s very scary,” Barisi said as she pushed her 4-month-old daughter, Samantha, in a stroller. “I’m always watching my daughter. No matter where I am, she is always with me. When she starts to walk, I’m getting her a leash. I guess you have to be careful no matter where you are.”

Times correspondent Mimi Ko contributed to this story.