Mesa Verde man held on molestation allegations

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- Police are investigating allegations that a 71-year-old

Costa Mesa man molested a 12-year-old girl who reported she was attacked

Saturday while selling candy.

Costa Mesa Police Lt. Dale Birney said Mesa Verde resident James

Harper was arrested Saturday and will be charged with committing a lewd

act on a child and kidnapping. Harper could face one to 12 years in

prison if convicted.

Birney said the investigation is ongoing and officers are looking into

the possibility there are additional victims. Harper is being held in

Orange County Jail.

The girl, whom the Daily Pilot has declined to identify because of her

age, told police she was selling candy on Redwood Avenue for a school

fund-raiser when she allegedly had the encounter with Harper.

“He seemed like a nice man,” the girl said in an interview Monday. “I

thought he wanted to buy some candy.”

She left his house shaking, she said, and went to her friend’s home,

where she broke down in tears.

“I wasn’t going to tell anyone,” she said. “But then I got sad, and I

told my friend.”

The two girls then told the victim’s mom, who immediately called

police.

“I don’t want him to live by me,” the girl said.

Her family members said they are shocked that something like this

could happen in such a nice, seemingly quiet neighborhood -- a

neighborhood they moved into just a month ago.

“I never imagined anything like this could happen to one of my kids,”

the girl’s mother said. “I told her to stay in the [area] because I

thought it would be safer.”

The girl’s mother said she worried about her daughter and added that

she was proud of her for telling someone about the alleged incident.

People need to know that these things happen, the mother said, and not

sweep them under the rug.

The 12-year-old has been acting differently since the alleged

incident, playing by herself and not wanting to go outside, family

members said.

She agreed, saying she tries to forget about it and play with friends

and siblings. But when it is dark and she’s alone at night, the images of

the alleged incident creep back in her mind, she said.

“I can’t go to sleep at night now,” she said.

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .