Van Matching That of Molester Stopped but Still No Arrest
A man driving a gray van with burgundy stripes was stopped three times Friday by the Los Angeles Police Department, which is one of six police departments in Southern California looking for the South Bay child molester.
The van was detained near MacArthur Park on West 3rd Street and South Lafayette Park Place. The man, whose name was not released, was not arrested.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which formed a task force last week to find the molester, added 50 detectives Friday to the 55-member group that is checking out 500 leads phoned in by the public.
Law enforcement officials are searching for an African American man with a mustache and goatee who is believed to be responsible for the rapes of at least six elementary schoolgirls in Hawthorne, Ladera Heights and Inglewood.
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