Burglar Tied to Molesting of Children : Crime: Intruder entered unlocked doors, windows. He may be connected to similar break-ins in other cities.

Police are searching for a burglar who recently entered four homes through unlocked doors or windows while occupants were present and on some occasions fondled little girls in their sleep.

The intruder may be connected to eight other cases in Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Irvine and unincorporated areas of Orange and Los Angeles counties since 1990, Newport Beach Sgt. Andy Gonis said Monday.

In Newport Beach, residents on Montecito Drive, Blue Key and Monterey Circle reported four nighttime burglaries that occurred Nov. 3-4, Gonis said.

The burglar went through purses, wallets and other belongings while the occupants were sleeping and stole cash, generally less than $100, investigators said.

The man usually picked homes where girls as young as 6 are living.

“In several of the incidents involving children being fondled, the parents did not report the incident immediately because they thought their children had experienced a bad dream,” Gonis said. “Then they would discover the missing cash . . . and realize someone had been in their house.”

He said the intruder may have cased neighborhoods during the day, and then returned to rob homes where children live.

Similar burglaries were reported to Seal Beach, Huntington Beach and Irvine police departments as well as the Orange and Los Angeles County sheriff’s departments, prompting detectives to meet earlier this month and compare notes.

“We did a timeline analysis and additional research, which concluded that the same man may be responsible in about a dozen cases,” Gonis said. “This is based on the description of the suspect and the nature of the crimes, not on direct evidence such as fingerprints or witness identification.”

Investigators believe the same thief may have committed the crimes between 1990 and 1995, Gonis said.

In most cases, the homes were next to greenbelt areas, canyons, parks or flood-control channels, providing the burglar “a route to flee quickly and undetected,” Gonis said.

In Irvine’s Turtle Rock Drive neighborhood, residents reported four similar burglaries in the past three months. In those cases, the intruder entered the homes late at night while occupants were sleeping and usually stole cash from wallets and purses, said Gary Cain, an Irvine investigator.

“The burglaries are real similar to those in Newport Beach,” Cain said. “But nobody was molested in any of [the Irvine] cases as far as I know.”

Sometimes, residents heard nothing or did not realize they had been burglarized until the next day. When occupants did detect some noise, they heard the sounds between 2 and 4 a.m., Cain said.

Police offered only a sketchy portrait of the intruder, who was described as white, 30 to 50 years old, 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-10 and with a thin to medium build. He usually wears dark clothing and dons a cap or a bandanna and has been seen with a goatee.

Witnesses who saw the man on top of a roof where a burglary had occurred and victims whom he had molested have described the man to police. But because of variations in the descriptions, investigators have not been able to compile a sketch.