Police Ask Help to Find Suspect in Sex Assault

Police are asking for the public’s help in locating the man who kidnapped and tried to rape a 14-year-old last month as she walked to school.

A man approached the victim at Dale Street and Katella Avenue shortly before 9 a.m. on Dec. 2, said Police Sgt. Make Handfield. When the man asked her if she needed a ride, the girl ran to a liquor store. He continued to follow her when she returned to the street and caught up with her in an alley, where he dragged her into his car, Handfield said.

The man drove to a park near Harbor Boulevard and Chapman Avenue, stopped behind a closed business and told the victim he was going to sexually assault her, Handfield said.

He was scared off by an unknown person who approached the car, police said.

“The victim was able to flee,” he said.

The man is described as being in his mid- to late 20s, about 5-foot-10 with a stocky build. He wore a light-blue, short-sleeved mechanic’s shirt with a white patch over the left breast pocket.

His car is a white, older-model Chevrolet Camaro with numerous dents and scratches and a small molded fin or spoiler on the trunk, police said. The interior is black with maroon carpet.

Anyone with information on the suspect or his whereabouts is asked to call police at (714) 741-5838.