Police are looking for a suspected child predator in Brooklyn they say uses his dogs in order to trick girls and lure them away to sexually assault them.
The unidentified man allegedly attempted to use the ploy on three middle school-aged girls in Brownsville in the past week, according to the local school district and police. The first incident occurred on Monday, when the man was walking his dogs and approached a 13-year-old girl near the corner of Pitkin Avenue and Osborn Street, police said.
He asked the girl to help him take a picture of him and the dogs, and told her to follow him inside a nearby building so he could grab his camera. The girl followed him in, and police said that's where he assaulted her, touching her inappropriately.
Police said that the man prevented the girl from leaving by taking her backpack and putting one of the dogs by the doorway of the building. The victim managed to get away with the help of a friend who called out to her, according to police, and the suspect fled.
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He tried the same thing the very next day, on two different occasions. The first time was with a 12-year-old girl on Christopher Avenue in front of a school, and then again an hour later with an 11-year-old near the intersection of Pitkin Avenue and Watkins Street. He tried to use the dog ploy on both girls, police said, but both got scared and ran off, never following him into the apartment building.
All three incidents occurred before school started in the morning. Local school officials were so alarmed that they sent notes home to parents, warning them to be on the lookout for the suspect.
Officials said the man walks with two dogs, one of which is believed to be a husky. Police are said to be looking for a man in his 20s, with braids in his hair and wearing a black hoodie with black pants. Anyone who believes they may have seen the suspect s asked to contact police.
