Photos Released in Child Sex Abuse Case

Los Angeles police on Wednesday stepped up their efforts to find a possible victim of child sexual abuse by releasing additional photographs of the child and two adults.

Officials won court permission Wednesday to release a photograph of a little girl they believe was being sexually abused when the picture was taken. They also released additional photographs of the man and woman suspected of molesting the child.

The child’s photograph is among several found in Koreatown last week and given to police. They depict a man and a woman apparently performing a sex act on the child, believed to be 2 or 3 years old.

The new photos, depicting the couple, were turned in to authorities after several television stations aired the first pictures late Tuesday. Police would not disclose who turned them in.

In their search for the child and the adults, police on Tuesday night had displayed three photographs, blacking out the child to protect her identity and pinning their hopes on someone’s being able to recognize either adult.

“Obviously, the urgency here is we need to find the child and ensure the safety of the child,” police Cmdr. David Gascon said in explaining why the Los Angeles Police Department took the unusual step of seeking the court’s permission for an action that could lead to the public identification of a young victim of a sex crime.

State law prohibits the dissemination of pictures depicting sex with children.

Based on the photo released Wednesday and other pictures found Friday near the intersection of 1st Street and Normandie Avenue, police are seeking a white man in his 40s with a mustache and receding black hair, and an Asian woman in her 30s. She has a small rose tattoo on her inner left breast.

Gascon said code numbers on the backs of the instant-camera photos indicate they were taken last November, but he acknowledged that there is no way of knowing where they were taken.