Serial Rapist Suspected in Rowland Heights Assault

A 15-year-old girl was kidnaped and raped in Rowland Heights last week by a man authorities believe also attacked a 12-year-old girl last November.

The kidnaping occurred on Jan. 26 at about 7:15 a.m. as the victim was going home after realizing there had been a schedule change at Rowland High School.

The girl was walking near a footpath at Killian Street and Paso Real Avenue when she was approached by a man who asked her if she had any matches, said Detective Danny Lingo of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Child Abuse Detail.

When the girl continued walking, the man grabbed her around the neck and held a gun to her side, Lingo said.

He then forced her into an American-made light-blue pickup with an extended cab and raped her.

The rapist drove the girl to a nearby school, told her to get out and not to look back, Lingo said.

The rape occurred two miles from where a Giano Intermediate School student was raped on Nov. 3 in Valinda. In that instance, a man asked the victim for the time as she was walking to school. The girl tried to walk away, but the man had a gun and forced her into his pickup and raped her.

Detectives believe the man will attack again. “He’s getting more brazen,” Lingo said.

Richard Angarola, deputy superintendent of the Rowland Unified School District, said his office has sent letters to all parents informing them of the incident.

The suspect is described as Latino, 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing 140 to 150 pounds. He is 30 to 35 years old and has black hair, brown eyes, facial hair and a face scarred with pocks or acne, Lingo said. He was wearing a black watch cap, a blue jacket with a hood and white tennis shoes.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Walnut sheriff’s station at (818) 913-1715, or Lingo or Detective Yolanda Gonzalez at (818) 858-8769.