Leads on Molester Dwindle; Unrelated Attack Reported

The task force seeking the South Bay molester is dwindling in size as leads slow to a trickle and few sightings of the attacker in the gray van are reported.

There are still 55 detectives and 95 patrol officers assigned to the task force coordinated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. But not all of them are working on the case at the same time. “They are slowly breaking down the task force as the leads dwindle and the work for the investigators decreases,” said Sgt. Ron Spear of the Sheriff’s Department.

However, a 9-year-old girl in Inglewood said she was abducted outside her house on Monday afternoon by a man in a black van who grabbed her, blindfolded her and took her to Centinela Park, where she was released unharmed, said Inglewood Police Sgt. Larry Kirkley.

Police said neither the van nor the man’s description matched that of the South Bay molester. And even though the little girl was blindfolded, she described her abductor as being 48 and wearing Guess jeans.

Kirkley said detectives are not disregarding the report, “but we’re not calling out the Air Force yet.”

More than 1,650 leads have been called in to police departments and the Sheriff’s Department since the molester, described as an African American in his 30s to 50s driving a gray van with burgundy stripes, first kidnapped two girls in January in Ladera Heights and molested them. He is suspected of two rapes, four molestations and five attempted abductions.

In Hawthorne, where one girl was abducted and raped on her way to Cimarron Avenue Elementary School, police are patrolling areas around elementary schools open for the summer, Police Lt. Arvid Krueger said.

At Highland Elementary School in Inglewood, where another girl was abducted and raped May 30, officers who teach a Drug Awareness Resistance Education program are telling students to yell when approached by strangers and run away.