S. Bay Child Molester Identified, Police Say

As many as 125 investigators had worked on the case, checking over 1,700 leads but coming up empty in their frustrating search for the man whose abductions and sexual assaults on young schoolgirls terrified several South Bay communities two years ago.

On Thursday, law enforcement officials announced that they believe they have found their man--in a cell in Men’s Central Jail. Their suspect, 53-year-old Billy Lee Mayshack of South Los Angeles, has been there since March 1997, awaiting trial on charges of sexually molesting two Los Angeles boys, ages 5 and 8.

At first, there was nothing to link Mayshack with the so-called South Bay child molester. Investigators were searching for a man who had abducted and raped or molested six girls, ages 7 to 10, and tried to lure others into his van between January and June 1996. The molester struck near schools in Hawthorne, Inglewood, Los Angeles and the unincorporated community of Lennox.

But at a Torrance courthouse news conference, featuring some of the investigators who had worked on the South Bay case, authorities accused Mayshack of the crimes. They charged him with 22 counts of forcible child molestation, six counts of kidnapping a victim under age 14 and two counts of continuous sexual abuse. Some of the charges involve the alleged molestations of the two boys, during 1995 and 1996.

“The investigation leading up to filing the charges was a combination of good old-fashioned police work and relatively new techniques and technology,” said Roger Gunson of the district attorney’s office.

At the height of the molester’s activity, a task force from the Sheriff’s Department and the Hawthorne, Inglewood and Los Angeles police departments met daily, combing through hundreds of leads, testing DNA evidence from the young victims to determine whether there had been a single attacker--and searching for the gray van with a maroon stripe.

Yet by late summer in 1996, just as worried parents were sending their children back to schools with heightened precautions, the task force, with few new leads, was dramatically cut back in size.

The following spring, Mayshack, who has a lengthy criminal record involving sex crimes against children, was arrested in the case involving the two boys.

The deputy district attorney prosecuting him, Renee Korn, wanted to know more about Mayshack’s criminal behavior. So she consulted with sheriff’s Sgt. John Yarbrough, a nationally recognized expert on the habits and methods of serial sex offenders.

Yarbrough, who had compiled a profile of the South Bay child molester with state Department of Justice experts, said he was struck by similarities between the school molestations and the case of the two boys. Yarbrough also noted Mayshack’s past criminal convictions.

“There are some specific characteristics” unique to individual sex offenders, Yarbrough said, declining to give details for fear of jeopardizing the case. “They don’t all fit into the same neat box.”

Based on what Yarbrough saw, investigators ordered DNA testing of Mayshack. The results have not yet been released, authorities said.

Mayshack’s arraignment, scheduled for Thursday, was postponed until Sept. 24 at the request of the county public defender’s office, which is representing him. Deputy Dist. Atty. Lydia Bodin, who worked closely with the task force that searched for the South Bay child molester, said she is asking that Mayshack be held without bail.

Mayshack had 21 felony criminal convictions between 1969 and 1986, including rape, lewd and lascivious conduct on a child under 14, kidnapping and robbery, according to court records provided by the district attorney’s office. California voters in 1994 approved the three-strikes law, which, in most cases, requires a life sentence for a third felony conviction.

Even without the three-strikes law, Mayshack, if convicted on the current charges, could receive a life sentence.

Thursday’s news conference was aimed in part at reassuring parents and school officials. During the height of the molester scare, parents walked their children to and from campus, schools held assemblies to warn youngsters of the dangers and police passed out fliers seeking help in tracking down the man and his van.

“When the leads started to die down, there were four people who stuck with this case, stuck with it the entire time,” said Rachel Burgess of the Sheriff’s Department. “The message that sends to the public is that they can count on their law enforcement organizations to work together and never give up.”

One of those who persisted was Hawthorne Police Det. Clint Olsem. He first declined to comment, saying only “it’s not over” until the case is resolved in the courts. But, when pressed, he did express one sentiment: “I’m glad he’s in jail.”