Schools Warn of Potential Molester

Parents, staff and students at about 50 Los Angeles public schools in the West Valley have been warned in a school district memo that a man has attempted to abduct and grope children near school grounds five times in the past six weeks.

The memo, distributed on Jan. 26 and 27, urged staff and others at elementary, junior high and high schools to be on the lookout for a man in his late 20s or early 30s. No other physical description was provided. He has been seen driving a Toyota with faded red paint and license plates with first three characters “H2J.”

A school police clerk recently noticed the similarities in five reports of attempted attacks and notified her superiors, said Bill Rivera, a school district spokesman.

“Cluster leaders of every school on the west end have been notified,” he said Saturday. Authorities said the man reportedly exposed himself and tried to coax children into his car five times since Dec. 14, when the first report was made at Van Nuys Middle School, Rivera said.

Since then, there have been reports of attempted molestations at Bertrand Elementary School in Reseda, Emelita Elementary School in Encino on Dec. 16 and Gault Elementary School in Van Nuys on Dec. 18. Last Tuesday, a report was taken from Sun Valley Middle School in Sun Valley, Rivera said.