Dolls Resembling Young Girls Placed Outside Their Homes in California

Porcelain dolls resembling young girls have been placed in front of their homes in a gated California community

Orange County Sheriff’s Department

By Isabel Sanhueza

updated 07/24/2014 at 05:50 PM EDT

•originally published 07/24/2014 05:45PM

Police have been called in to investigate a curious case after families reported finding porcelain dolls in front of their homes in a gated community in San Clemente, California.

The dolls were found outside of eight homes in the Talega development and resemble the young girls who live there, KTLA reports.

Some of the girls, who are all around the age of 10, go to elementary school together, Orange County Sheriff's Department Lt. Jeff Hallock told KTLA.

The department released photos of two of the dolls, one wearing a blue dress trimmed with lace and one in a pink dress with white bunny slippers.

"Is it a prank? Is there some specific motivation?" Hallock said. "Obviously, there's an indication by some [of] the parents that the dolls resemble their daughters."

"We're talking about children here," he added. "Anything that has the potential to involve children causes us some concern."