Transient Charged With Burglaries, Molesting Girls Is Arraigned : Crime: Suspect, who was arrested last week, indicated to police that he had ‘ceased talking’ 14 years ago.

A transient who police say apparently has not talked for 14 years was arraigned Tuesday on charges that he fondled young girls after breaking into their homes.

Roland David Ecker, 55, was charged with four counts of burglary and three counts of child molestation during his arraignment at Harbor Municipal Court, Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew S. Anderson said.

Ecker, who used cards marked Y and N to communicate yes and no answers, did not enter a plea, court officials said. He was being held in Orange County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.

Ecker is accused of entering four homes in Newport Beach during the early-morning hours. In at least three cases, he went into the bedrooms of young girls and fondled them before fleeing, prosecutors allege.

The girls range in age from 7 to 9 and attend Harbor View Elementary School in Corona del Mar. None was sexually assaulted or physically injured, police said.

Ecker was arrested Friday morning while walking on MacArthur Boulevard in Newport Beach after a 9-year-old girl who had been fondled in May spotted him as she walked with her mother. While being taken into custody, Ecker presented Police Officer Randy Nakashima with a piece of paper bearing his name and birth date.

During questioning by Nakashima, Ecker wrote that he had “ceased talking” 14 years ago, Police Sgt. Andy Gonis said. Gonis said it was not clear why Ecker had taken a “vow of silence.”

Ecker, who was holding a blanket and some extra clothes when arrested, has communicated with police officers only through scribbled notes in response to questions, Gonis said.

Ecker was held in Newport Beach City Jail over the weekend while victims tried to identify him.

Police had been searching for a perpetrator since May. At one point, they used a helicopter to scour a canyon area bordering three houses that had been entered between February and September.

Parents and administrators at Harbor View Elementary on Tuesday welcomed the news of an arrest.

Andra Broekelschen, who has a son and daughter at the school, said her children were upset when they heard about the case. In September, the school circulated flyers to parents explaining the case and the police investigation.

“My daughter did not want to go home alone” after hearing about the investigation, Broekelschen said.

School Principal Paul Twedt said: “You kind of feel you don’t wish anyone any harm, but you hope the police have the right man and it’s a concern that can be lifted away.”

Twedt said he heard no reports about Ecker visiting the school and did not think the suspect had any prior connection there.

Gonis said the first fondling incident occurred in February in the 1000 block of Sandcastle Drive. The parents of the first victim, an 8-year-old, did not immediately report the incident to police, thinking that their daughter was dreaming, he said.

The suspect broke into two more houses along Sandcastle, in the 1000 and 900 blocks, on May 2 and Sept. 23, Gonis said. In both cases, he said, Ecker took “small food items” and fondled sleeping girls.

In one instance in May, a man broke into a house in the 700 block of Sea Breeze Lane but did not touch the 7-year-old sleeping in the room, Gonis said. He said the girl woke up to see the man sleeping on her floor and ran out of the room to tell her parents. Meanwhile, he escaped, Gonis said.

Ecker remains largely a mystery to police. Gonis said investigators do not know how long he has been in Newport Beach or where he has been staying. He said investigators think he broke into the homes primarily in search of food.