LAPD Investigates Reports of 'Child Annoyance' in Cypress Park

Los Angeles Police Department detectives from the Northeast Community Station are investigating reports that two men—or possibly one man with two different looks—is attempting to lure teenage schoolgirls into his vehicle in Cypress Park.

LAPD Senior Lead Officer Adam Mezquita, who is in charge of Cypress Park, Mount Washington West and Glassell Park, confirmed that a May 15 CBS2 news report about a so-called “child annoyance” case revolves around two suspects or one suspect operating in two different guises.

But Mezquita refuted the TV station’s assertion that “more than four attempted abductions are now connected” to the case.

“I am told it’s a child annoyance case but there haven’t been any attempts at abductions,” Mezquita told Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch.

LAPD Northeast Det. Mark Raichel, the supervisor of the juvenile unit, backed up Mezquita’s comments about the alleged abductors.

“All they’ve done is ask the girls if they want a ride—if they want to get in the car,” he said. “There’s not any attempt at an abduction—that’s misspoken,” he added. “Asking a child for a ride is not necessarily a crime unless the person keeps asking.”

According to the CBS2 story, titled “Police Hunt For Suspects in Attempted Abductions Near Northeast Schools,” the latest attempt at child abduction occurred April 12 near the Sonia Sotomayor Learning Academies on San Fernando Road.

“The suspects also struck twice in one day, just feet away from a local elementary school and other education facilities,” the TV station reported without elaborating.

“In each case the suspect was verbally aggressive, targeting female students between the ages of 13 and 17 who are walking to and from school,” the report said. “Police say each victim had a cell phone, refused to get in the car and ran off to get help.”

Raichel confirmed that four cases of child annoyance have occurred so far near Sonia Sotomayor, the most recent being in April. The first incident was in October 2012, the second in December, and the third in January, he said.

Each case involved the same modus operandi—“he asked the girls to get into the car” in a manner that was “pretty much non-aggressive” in that there was “nothing physical,” Raichel said, adding that the LAPD has stepped up patrols both day and night in the area around the Sotomayor Learning Academies and that undercover detectives are also “working that area.”

Meanwhile, principals from local schools attended Thursday’s 10 a.m. weekly “Safe Passage” meeting at the Northeast station. Senior Lead Officer Mezquita said one of the principals of the Sotomayor Learning Academies was scheduled to be at the meeting.

CBS2 reports that the Sotomayor Learning Academies issued crime alert letters this week, advising parents and students to be vigilant.

“It’s a pattern,” Sotomayor Learning Academies spokesperson Joseph Llamas told CBS2 reporter and Eagle Rock High School alumna Suraya Fadel. “There’s more than one incident. The fact that there’s four or five—it’s a little troubling.”
Senior Lead Officer Mezquita told Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch that the important thing is to educate children not to succumb to solicitations from strangers and to travel in groups.

“The kids who are the target of this person are being made aware through the schools, so I hope that’s enough for now,” Mezquita said, adding that San Fernando Road, where the LAPD Northeast Station is located, is a highly traveled area and that children who go to schools nearby usually walk in fairly large groups.

“It’s pretty bold of this guy to try that in this area,” Mezquita said.

Click here to view the CBS2 report.