Suspect in Attack on 2 Girls in P.V. Estates Eludes Police

At least a dozen people in Palos Verdes Estates think they may have seen the scruffy-looking man who allegedly molested two 12-year-old girls Monday, but police said there still has been no arrest.

The girls were reportedly playing at Malaga Cove Intermediate School about 2 p.m. when a slight 6-foot-tall man with dirty blond hair approached them. He told the girls that he was an undercover policeman and was arresting them for venturing onto the campus, which was closed for Veterans Day, according to police. The man allegedly fondled the girls as he performed what was ostensibly a police pat down. He then tried to rape them, police said.

The girls escaped and rode their bicycles the short distance to the Palos Verdes Estates Police Station and reported the incident. Officers could not find the man.

The suspect may be responsible for a similar attack last February at a Rolling Hills Estates elementary school, according to Palos Verdes Estates police Sgt. Tom Vanderpool.

Police said the suspect may be a transient and that he wears his hair long in back and shorter on the sides. He is about 30 years old and has green eyes. At the time of the attack, he wore only white shorts and dirty, high-top shoes.