Police are investigating a report that a group of men at a south Lawrence apartment complex tried to lure young neighborhood girls into their apartment.

A resident of SouthPointe apartments, 2166 W. 26th St., filed a police report June 12 alleging that men were contacting girls near the complex’s pool between June 10 and June 11 and offering them money to come into a nearby apartment.

Initially, Lawrence police classified it as a noncriminal report, but officers have been at the complex this week conducting a follow-up investigation.

The investigation led to a foot chase at the apartments Tuesday afternoon, when officers at the scene spotted a man who they knew had warrants for his arrest. He got away.

Kim Murphree, a Lawrence Police spokeswoman, said she couldn’t talk about details of the investigation, such as whether officers have contacted the men or substantiated any of the allegations.

“They are still in the middle of investigating and following up on the information we have,” Murphree said.

Jay Mills locks the door to his apartment Tuesday at SouthPointe Apartments, 2166 W. 26th St. Mills, a stay-at-home dad, is concerned that the apartment complex isn't safe for his family. Reports have been circulating among the residents of two adults attempting to entice young girls away from the swimming pool. He says he and other residents have been left in the dark about this and other safety issues at the complex.

Jerry Miller, president of Signature Properties, which manages the 500-person complex, said management became aware of the situation last week after receiving a complaint. He said the resident who lived in the apartment in question had other people coming there who weren’t on the lease.

“There had been some other general-nature concerns about these people – just disturbing the peace,” he said. “We went and talked to these folks. We felt from the discussion we had that they’d be better off moving.”

Miller said the men began moving out early in the week and had vacated the apartment by Tuesday.

“I think what we did was give them back their deposit,” he said. “They’d been there a real short time.”

In addition to asking the men to leave, the complex manager sent out a flier that said children needed to be supervised at the pool or it would be closed during nonbusiness hours, Miller said.

An anonymous flier left on doors at the complex Sunday morning complained about the threat of losing pool privileges and made reference to problems with the men near the pool. A resident of the complex, Jay Mills, who has a 12-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son, said that after he saw the flier, he was upset that management hadn’t notified all residents about the men and the allegations involving them.

“If you lived in an apartment complex and had children and your management knew this was going on, wouldn’t you expect them to tell you?” he asked. “It seems like they tried dealing with it under wraps instead of warning people.”

But Miller said his company took appropriate action.

“We didn’t see it firsthand, and it was an allegation,” he said. “We asked the folks to leave. They left. We sent a letter out to residents saying, ‘You need to watch your children or we’re going to close the pool down after hours.'”

Mills said he’s had other concerns recently with the complex. He said a junked car was allowed to sit in front of his home for months, a neighbor’s pit bulls were allowed to run loose, and the overall appearance of the complex has been declining.

But Miller said the company runs the place professionally and spends about $100,000 per year in capital improvements at the complex, which he said was at 97.5 percent occupancy in the past year.

“Even if you do everything right, sometimes things happen,” he said.