Detectives are searching for a predator who targets girls on morning drives and uses his truck and violence to trap them, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said Friday.
On Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., a man in a white Ford F-150 drove up alongside a girl who was walking near 43rd Terrace and Southwest 50th Street in Dania Beach. She tried to escape, but the suspect used his truck to trap her against a fence, the BSO said in a news release.
He reached out the window, grabbed her shirt and punched her in the face, before pulling the victim closer and making her watch him masturbate, the BSO said.
The girl used her keys to hit the man, forcing him to let her go, and was able to run away, the agency said.
She was treated by Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue for minor injuries.
BSO Special Victims Unit detectives are searching for a man in his 40s, who has a tattoo on the left side of his neck that may resemble a triangle and has Roman numerals. He is either bald or balding and has yellow teeth, the BSO said. He was wearing tan work clothes, and had landscaping equipment in the bed of his truck.
Authorities ask anyone with information to call BSO Special Victims Unit Det. Ann Suter at 954-321-4689 or Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. Crime Stoppers is offering up to $3,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
