"An Appetite for Young Girls"

LAPD Says Sexual Predator Prowls Mid-City

By JOHN CADIZ KLEMACK

Updated 10:45 AM PST, Fri, Nov 6, 2009

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The golden hour in Mid City, Los Angeles is 7a-8a weekdays. That's when LAPD says a sexual predator is on the prowl, looking for young girls walking to school alone.

"It appears to us that he has an appetite for young girls," said LAPD Acting Chief Michael Downing, "We need your help to apprehend him."

Over the course of the year, police say he's attacked four young girls. It happened first in February 2008, then April 2008, then not again until July 2009 and most recently, November 4, 2009. And he appears to strike within a three-mile radius.

"I'm very worried, I have two little girls," said Isabela Sosa as she walked her seven-year-old daughter to school Friday. "I tell her not to talk to strangers, to kick, scream, run."

Her daughter's catching on. "I run away or find a grown-up," she said.

LAPD released a sketch of the suspect, four sketches in fact, all of them similar yet slightly different.

"We have four young victims," said lead Detective Monica Cross, "this is their perception of the suspect."

There's also surveillance video of the latest attack; it shows a young girl following behind the suspect as he lured her into a stairwell of an apartment building. Minutes later, he's seen running away. Police say the girl begged to be set free, possibly startling the man.

“He’s very friendly to them, enough to gain their trust," said Det. Cross, claiming he appears to use the same story to get little girls to follow him - but police won't release that information, only saying parents should remind their kids never to talk to strangers.

LAPD says if you recognize the sketches, call their tip line at 1-877-LAPD-24-7.