Council OKs $25,000 Reward Over Assault at N. Hollywood Park

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to offer a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a man who sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl at a park in North Hollywood last week.

Two days later, a man approached an 11-year-old girl two miles from the site of the first attack. Police are investigating whether the incidents are related.

Councilman Joel Wachs sought the reward, acknowledging that the council normally waits before offering rewards to allow the police to exhaust leads and tips.

“But this is a particularly unusual situation because of the high likelihood that the same person is going to strike again,” Wachs said. “We’ve got a real sicko out there who is preying on the neighborhood.”

Wachs said police asked that the reward be offered. The molestation occurred at 6:20 p.m. Thursday when the rapist displayed a gun and accosted the girl in a parking lot at Valley Plaza Park.

The girl had been waiting on the sidewalk by her family’s car while her mother went into the recreation building to pay a registration fee for karate classes.

The attacker took the girl into a park restroom.

“It’s every person’s nightmare to see an innocent 12-year-old girl raped at gunpoint in the bathroom at the park,’ Wachs told his colleagues.

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said rewards have worked in previous situations involving serial rapists.

“This is a broad appeal to everyone,” Ridley-Thomas said. “We shouldn’t have children at risk in this way.”