Report: Intruder fondled girl,
Published: Tuesday, July 6, 2004 10:31 AM EDT
11
by
Andy Hall
Palatka Daily News
A man wearing a ski mask is believed to have entered the
bedroom
window of an 11-year-old girl and fondled her before
fleeing
through the same window of her Interlachen home Tuesday
night.
The Putnam County Sheriff's Office is asking for the
public's
help in identifying the suspect, who has been described
as a
white male between 5 feet, 10 inches and 6 feet tall with
some
facial hair beneath his lower lip.
Officers appear satisfied the suspect is not a family
member.
"We look at evidence from every possible angle and it's
our belief it was someone from outside the home," said
Lt.
Gary Bowling of the sheriff's office.
What the evidence does suggest, according to a statement
from
the sheriff's office, is that the suspect may have cut
himself
while entering the window and may have injuries
consistent with
having been cut.
"We collected blood and if we pinpoint a suspect, we can
use it to collect DNA," Bowling said.
While there may be a heightened sense of awareness of
home invasions
and abductions involving children from news reports
across the
country in recent months, Bowling said the sheriff's
office has
not detected an increase in such incidents, either in the
county
or nationwide.
"We see this as an isolated incident," he said. "We
would tell citizens to take all the normal (home
security) precautions
they would take every day."
Information about the incident should be directed to
Detective
Dan Fleming, who can be reached at 326-2783.
