Man Freed in Hunt for Molester : Investigation: Police had picked him up near school for questioning. More details are promised on another man still being held in the case.

Intensive patrols continued Monday near San Fernando Valley schools terrorized by a suspected serial child molester as police took one man in for questioning and promised to release more details today about a second man who remains in custody.

An unidentified man was picked up half a block from Van Nuys Elementary School at 9:30 a.m. He was taken to the Van Nuys police station for questioning before being released several hours later.

“We’re stopping anybody who’s wandering around the schools; he was out there, so we stopped him,” said Los Angeles Police Sgt. Ed Brayton.

He said the man fit a police sketch profile of the serial molester suspect believed responsible for 32 assaults or attempted attacks on children. Police say the suspected molester is a slightly taller than average black male with short hair and possible slight growth of beard, and is between 35 and 45 years old.

“They have a job to do,” the suspect said as he stood handcuffed while a small crowd gathered, many of them parents who had just walked anxious children to school. After being driven off in a squad car, the man was questioned but was released by lunchtime. Police refused to release his identity.

“He halfway matched the description, so they brought him in,” said one police officer. “They’re bringing in anybody” who fits the profile.

The unidentified man was at least the fourth person brought in for questioning since the first reports of the suspected serial molester were publicized several weeks ago. Since then, reports have been flooding in to schools and police stations.

Police patrols have been particularly intense around Van Nuys Elementary on Sylmar Avenue. One child reported that a man tried to assault her near the school last Tuesday morning as she returned to her house to retrieve a whistle. And on Friday, in what police said was the first attack reported on a school campus, a man matching the description of the molester grabbed a girl as she and a friend carried trash to a dumpster outside the school. None of the girls was physically harmed.

Police also said Monday that they planned to announce late today whether they will file charges against an Encino man arrested and booked Friday as a suspect in the case.

Elliot Singletary, 45, remained in custody and police have 48 hours since his arrest to make their case or set him free, not including weekend days.

Authorities stressed that Singletary was one of several men arrested based on probable cause and similarity to composite drawings of a suspect, and that the actual molester--if all the incidents are indeed the work of one assailant--may still be at large.