2 More Attacks on Students Revive Fear

Months after the last reported attack by the so-called Valley molester, fear and frustration have reappeared at some San Fernando Valley schools following recent attacks on two girls as they walked to class.

On Thursday, Los Angeles police said a sexual assault near Northridge Middle School and an attempted assault near Langdon Avenue school in North Hills are not related to each other or to the so-called Valley molester, who is blamed for as many as 32 attacks on children near schools from Feb. 22 to Dec. 3, 1993.

“Based on what we know, the attacks are completely different to each other and to the Valley molester,” said Robert Peloquin of the LAPD’s West Valley station.

Still, the two schools sent letters to parents, and teachers have discussed the attacks in class with students. Also, police officers have increased patrols around the schools.

For some, it is the return to a frustratingly necessary state of readiness.

“It’s a call to alarm again,” said Northridge Middle School Principal Dan Balderrama. “I think everything got a little more relaxed with the passage of time, but this lets us know we can’t afford that.”

In letters written in English and Spanish sent home with students Tuesday and Wednesday, school officials told parents about the attacks and warned them to tell their children to be vigilant.

“We asked parents not to let their children walk to school alone, to tell them not to speak to strangers . . .,” said Langdon Avenue Principal Beryl Ward.

The latest attack occurred about 8:15 a.m. Tuesday when a 13-year-old student from Reseda was walking alone to Northridge Middle School, 17960 Chase St., police said.

When the girl was about two blocks from the school, a man approached her and asked for directions, Peloquin said. She gave him directions and continued walking, ignoring the man’s request that she help him find the address, police said.

The man followed her, put a pistol to her head and pulled her into an alley on Lindley Street near Roscoe Boulevard where he sexually assaulted her, Peloquin said.

After she was released, the girl told school officials who called police, Balderrama said.

The girl was treated at a hospital and released to her father, police said.

The attacker, who escaped, is described as a Latino man, 20 to 24 years old, 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8, 130 to 140 pounds, and wearing a black-and-green baseball cap, long-sleeve sweat shirt and white tennis shoes.

The other attack occurred April 20 about 7:30 a.m., when a third-grader at Langdon Avenue school escaped unharmed after she was chased by a man who offered to buy her a Barbie doll if she got into his car, said Detective Sandra Palmer of the LAPD’s Devonshire station.

After she refused to get in the car, the man got out and briefly ran after her, police said. As the man grabbed at her, he apparently unclasped her backpack, which the girl left on the ground after she ran away, police said. The girl was unharmed.