Tuesday, Sept. 23, 1997 | 8:13 a.m.
Police, though, said they are still investigating whether there is a connection between the man and a serial rapist sought since last year.
Frederick Allen Osburn, 42, was arrested Friday in a mobile home park, where officers found 100 photos of children engaged in graphic sex acts. He was booked on one count of open and gross lewdness, one count of annoying a minor and 100 counts of possession of child pornography.
A search warrant was obtained for the mobile home Osburn occupied after he was questioned during a prowler call and later seen masturbating outside a home.
"We do not have a strong link to the serial rapist," Las Vegas police Lt. Craig Klatt said. "All we have are similarities, which are shared with many other prowlers."
Klatt said there was no indication any of the photos were of the girls victimized by a serial rapist since last April.
All told, about a dozen girls have been assaulted since April 1996. All the attacks occurred in the early-morning hours before dawn, and t assailant wore gloves and covered his face with a dark ski mask.
The rapist struck mostly in the northeast part of town where he was believed to have sexually attacked the girls, ages 5 to 12. Four attacks occurred within half a mile of each other in a northeast neighborhood.
Police said the man slipped into young girls' homes through windows and sliding-glass doors and molested them. The girls told detectives that the suspect covered their mouths and threatened to kill them if they told.
Police believe the attacker resurfaced last month when a man entered a northeast home and cupped his hand over the mouth of a 10-year-old girl sleeping on the couch. She managed to wriggle free and yelled, alerting her parents.
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