Lancaster man held in fondling of schoolgirls

A Lancaster man suspected of fondling several young girls at two local elementary schools was arrested early Thursday, authorities said.

Andrew Ortega, 21, was booked on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts against children under the age of 14, authorities said. He was being held on $100,000 bond at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Lancaster station.

Ortega is suspected of grabbing and fondling several young girls, including at least three 7-year-olds, deputies said. The incidents occurred at Sierra and Mariposa elementary schools, authorities said.

Joe L. Gutierrez, captain of the Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau, said Ortega could face charges in at least four incidents.

Sierra Elementary Principal Ed Drenner said the suspect jumped over the school fence when a teacher’s aide spotted him on the school grounds Tuesday.

Drenner, who was walking on a street that borders the school campus, chased the suspect but lost sight of him when he ran into the parking lot of nearby Lancaster Community Hospital.

Gutierrez said deputies checked surveillance video from the hospital.

“We were able to see a person running in the parking lot to a car,” he said, adding that it was a silver, American-made compact and was missing a hubcap.

At 9 p.m. Wednesday, deputies found the car and traced it to Ortega, Gutierrez said. Deputies from the Special Victims Bureau interviewed Ortega at 10 p.m. at his job at a discount supermarket, Gutierrez said.

He said clothes matching descriptions given by witnesses and the outfit worn by the man captured on the hospital surveillance video were found at Ortega’s home. The suspect was booked at 12:30 a.m. Thursday, Gutierrez said.

“It’s great for [our] community,” Drenner said of the suspect’s arrest. “And if there’s a silver lining . . . from this incident, it’s that more parents want to come out and volunteer in classrooms and during recess.”

ann.simmons@latimes.com