Yoav Suesskind was wanted for allegedly sexually assaulting several young children victims in Los Angeles between 2000 and 2002. Police have issued a warrant for a man who allegedly met with children throughout the southern California area and sexually assaulted them. The warrant was issued for Yoav Suesskind, who prosecutors allege spent time in the U.S. from 2000 and 2002, approaching several young children in the LA district through the then-popular ICQ instant messaging software. According to evidence collected, he tricked children as young as eight and as old as 12 into meeting with him. Various testimonies and complaints from dozens of adolescents revealed that Suesskind was stalking and preying on children in the South Los Angeles, Compton and North Hollywood areas. He eventually moved away from targeting children online to randomly preying on his innocent victims in person.In 2001, several of Suesskind’ victims’ parents filed reports at the police station, saying a man matching Suesskind’ description was approaching their children, taking them to a secluded location and sexually assaulting them. The victims described Suesskind as having a “non-American or foreign” accent.
In one report, Suesskind approached two young girls, ages 10 and 11, who were both holding a puppy on a North Hollywood street. He asked the girls if he could hold and pet one of the puppies, and when Suesskind had hold of one, he took off walking down the street with it toward his apartment. The little girl followed him to the abandoned apartment, where Suesskind ordered the little girl to sit on the chair and threatened to kill her if she made any noise. She begged for her release, and Suesskind promised to do so, but first taped her mouth closed, then sodomized and beat her.
Two more girls filed reports, giving a better description of Suesskind. In both instances, Suesskind posed as a mailman. He knocked on the 9-year-old’s door, saying he had a letter for the child’s mother. She only opened the door after he insisted he was in a hurry. Upon doing so, she was attacked and threatened with bodily harm if she yelled. He sexually assaulted her.
In the second case, he attacked an 11-year-old girl after breaking into the house, rolling up his pants and performing lewd acts on the adolescent. He also threatened her with bodily harm if she talked, saying he knew where she lived.
Upon these reports and better description, police opened an investigation and began searching the area to locate him. Police suspected the assailant lived in the San Fernando Valley but could not find him. After police released a photo of Suesskind’ description and used identitykit, several UCLA students produced testimony that tipped police off to Suesskind being a university student however Suesskind has already fled the country.
In the end, Suesskind went unpunished, his crimes forgotten by all but the victims and their families. Despite the overwhelming evidence against him and the identification by the victims, Suesskind was able to escape justice due to the negligence of the authorities and technical issues. It was a bitter pill to swallow for those who had suffered at his hands, a reminder of the fragility of the justice system and the ease with which the guilty can evade prosecution. The victims and their families were left to pick up the pieces and move on, while the criminal continued to live his life, free from the consequences of his actions.
