Cops: New Surveillance Video Shows Suspected Queens Child Predator
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Police have released a second surveillance video of a man wanted for allegedly carrying out criminal sex acts against children in Queens.
The suspect allegedly forced a 7-year-old girl to commit a sex act hours after allegedly groping another child in separate incidents on Wednesday, May 1. He's also being eyed as a possible suspect in a third incident, police said.
Police said a man driving a tan van exposed himself to a 13-year-old girl and then trailed her for several blocks in South Ozone Park on Thursday afternoon.
The man fits the description of the suspect sought in connection with two incidents in South Ozone Park that occurred within hours of each other on Wednesday. All three incidents happened in the area of 115th Street and Sutter Avenue, according to police.
The latest surveillance video shows the suspect walking away from one of the alleged incidents, police said.
In the first incident Wednesday, the suspect followed two sisters, ages 7 and 12, as they walked home from school, police said. When the younger girl bent down to tie her shoe, the suspect grabbed her buttocks and walked off mumbling, according to authorities.
Then around 6 p.m. Wednesday, a man believed to be the same suspect forced another 7-year-old girl to commit a sex act, police said. The girl had hopped over a fence to retrieve a basketball at the time of the incident, according to police.
Police have released surveillance images and a sketch of the suspect and have plastered his image throughout the neighborhood.
There were stepped up patrols in South Ozone Park on Saturday as police continue to hunt for the suspect.
The suspect is described as a male with a dark complexion, approximately in his 20s, six feet tall and about 160 pounds with black hair. The suspect was last seen wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt with unknown white writing on the front, dark jeans and was carrying a purple backpack.
A $12,000 reward is being offered for the arrest and indictment of the suspect. There's also an NYPD mobile command post set up, as a makeshift precinct, and officers are being deployed door to door for information.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (5477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
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