More Attacks Linked to Valley Serial Molester : Crime: Number of assaults ascribed to suspect rises to 26, including second rape. LAPD defends investigation.

Authorities now suspect a serial child molester may be responsible for as many as 26 attacks, including a second rape, with all the victims from the San Fernando Valley, a top police official said Thursday.

The four new cases include the rape of a female victim in North Hollywood around Nov. 4., according to acting San Fernando Valley Cmdr. John Moran of the Los Angeles Police Department. Moran said the victim called police after hearing reports about the molester.

At a press conference at the LAPD’s Parker Center headquarters, Moran staunchly defended his department’s investigation while acknowledging shortcomings. Moran said elements of the police investigation are being reviewed, and a decision has already been made to begin a new Valleywide training for police personnel.

But Moran, clearly stung by criticism from some parents and school officials, cited the difficulties of identifying a serial molester who struck over a wide geographic area over a long period of time.

“It was not a situation where you could easily identify a single suspect,” Moran said.

On Tuesday, Moran said that the conclusion that a single assailant was responsible didn’t come “soon enough,” stressing that three of the five separate Valley divisions were working on their own cases, and that the case “just didn’t come together.”

At the news conference Thursday, Moran said he will review four areas for possible improvements, including deployment, work load, training and the frequency of meetings of detectives representing different police divisions.

“All these things need to be looked at,” Moran said. “But so far, I am satisfied that detectives are doing the job they are supposed to do, given the handicaps of heavy work loads and inadequate equipment.”

Moran insisted that schools were notified immediately after the investigation established on Nov. 3 that a single suspect was responsible for the spate of crimes in which schoolchildren were stalked and attacked across much of the Valley.

On that day, a 9-year-old girl in the West Valley was raped, Moran said. A detective investigating the rape realized the suspect matched the description of a suspect in one of the earlier attacks. After the detective determined there was a pattern of crimes in West Valley, he contacted other Valley divisions and discovered the attacks were widespread.

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A task force made up of three different Valley detective divisions was launched soon after and may possibly grow to include the LAPD’s elite downtown robbery-homicide unit, Moran said. He declined to comment on the size of the existing task force, which ensures close coordination among the police jurisdictions.

Moran said the main problem was identifying a pattern in the attacks, noting the large volume of sex crime reports filed with police. As an example, Moran said that this month to date in the West Valley Division alone, detectives have received 400 such reports.

A shortage of personnel may have also prevented investigators from identifying a pattern sooner, Moran acknowledged. At West Valley, a lone pair of detectives staff the division’s sex crimes table.

Detectives were also hampered by a lack of standardization in crime reporting, Moran said. Patrol officers who took reports described the attacks differently, making it difficult for detectives to identify a pattern, Moran said.

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As a result, Moran will launch a Valleywide training program to teach officers to uniformly identify crimes when filling out reports.

“There’s always room for improvement,” Moran said.

Lack of sophistication in computer programs may have also prevented an earlier start on the investigation, said Moran, noting that police computers lack the ability to identify crime patterns.

In August, LAPD officials notified Los Angeles Unified School District officials that crimes were occurring near school campuses, but at that time detectives still were unaware that they were dealing with a single molester.

“We didn’t drag our feet,” Moran said.

At the press conference, Detective Duane Burris said half of the attacks were initially reported to school police, who notified LAPD detectives to investigate the incidents.

All the attacks took place between the hours of 6:30 and 8:30 a.m. and all but two of the victims have been female, police said.

Burris said that the subject of the molester never came up at any of the regular monthly meetings of detectives from all five Valley divisions before Nov. 3.

The attacks became more frequent during October, when eight occurred.

So far police have disclosed the locations of 24 attacks. They estimate that 10 attacks took place in the West Valley Division over seven months; four attacks occurred in three months in the Van Nuys Division; eight attacks in three months in the Devonshire, and two attacks in the North Hollywood area in as many months, police said.

One of the more recent incidents includes a Nov. 11 attack on a 21-year-old baby-sitter, who is apparently the oldest victim, Moran said.

The composite of the suspect that has been circulated by police was prepared following a July 30 attack of two boys in the West Valley, Burris said.

The drawing was circulated in the neighborhood where the attack took place, Burris said. It was not until the Nov. 3 rape that a connection was made between the composite drawing and the rape suspect. Until Thursday, police believed the assailant was responsible for 22 assaults.

A second composite, which is similar to the earlier drawing, has been drawn based on a description police obtained from the victim of the Nov. 3 rape.

Some of the other victims have identified their assailant as the man pictured in the first composite drawing.

Police have yet to take anyone into custody for questioning in the attacks, Moran said.

Molester Manhunt

A single suspected is believed responsible for as many as 26 sexual assaults, including two rapes, across the San Fernando Valley this year. The assailant has accosted mostly girls between ages 7 and 17 as they walked to school. He is described as a black man between 5 feet 10 and 6 feet, 1 inch tall and weighing 180 to 200 pounds, 35 to 45 years old, with short graying hair. Police have declined to give dates and locations for most of the attacks or reveal details of their investigation. Here is a chronology of the investigation to date:

FEB: The string of assaults begins when an 12 year-old girl is grabbed in the morning of Feb. 22 near Columbus Middle School in Canoga Park.

APR: Reported attack in Van Nuys Division.

MAY: Reported attack in West Valley Division.

JUN: Reported attack in West Valley Division.

JUL: Two reported attacks in Van Nuys Division. In West Valley Division, a 5 year-old boy is molested in the hallway of a Canoga Park apartment building on July 30.

AUG: One reported attack in West Valley, four in Devonshire and one in North Hollywood divisions. Los Angeles police develop a composite sketch of the suspect on Aug. 17.

SEP: Reported attack in Devonshire Division.

OCT: Three reported attacks each in West Valley and Devonshire, one in Van Nuys and one in North Hollywood divisions.

NOV

Nov. 3: A 9-year-old girl on her way to Fullbright Avenue School is dragged into an apartment building laundry room and raped. Police conclude that a single assailant is responsible for the 22 attacks.

Nov. 4: Fullbright Avenue School Principal James Grover sends a letter home to parents, alerting them to the assault and urging them to take extra precautions. L.A. Unified School District notifies all 131 Valley elementary school principals of the attacks.

Nov. 11: A 21 year-old woman is grabbed as she walks at 8 a.m. at Ingoma Street and Reseda Boulevard. Police notify Los Angeles Unified School District officials about the attacks.

Nov. 12: The school district issues a memo to Valley elementary school principals about the attacks.

Nov. 15: Police make first announcement to public and media about attacks and release two different composite sketches of the suspect.

Nov. 16: Police refine the sketch, developing a single composite.

Nov. 18: Acting Valley Cmdr. John Morgan announces the suspect may have committed 26 assaults, including a second rape. Moran defends the department’s investigation, but acknowledges problems that will be corrected.

Sources: LAUSD, LAPD