DEPUTIES SEEK MAN PROWLING FOR CHILD.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Sheriff's deputies searched Wednesday for a man who tried to lure a 14-year-old girl away from her school playground and into his vehicle with promises of money, officials said.

When the girl declined, the man went to another school across the street but was chased away by maintenance workers, officials said.

``School officials said that an unknown male approached the school fence and contacted a 14-year-old student that was on the playground,'' said Deputy Mark Round of the Lancaster sheriff's station.

The man approached the fence just after noon Wednesday at the Antelope Valley Adventist School in the 45000 block of Date Avenue in Lancaster. He called to a girl and told her he had just won the lottery and wanted to help her, officials said.

The man told her she could climb the fence and go to his van to see the lottery paperwork.

The girl declined and walked away from the fence. She told another student about the man, and that boy told the man he should leave.

The boy and girl watched as the man crossed the street to Sacred Heart School, but before he could make contact with any students there he was stopped by maintenance staff who told him to leave the area, deputies said.

The man got into his van and drove off north on Date Avenue, officials said.

The man was described as a Latino in his early 30s, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and 190 pounds, with black hair. He was wearing black pants with a white, button-down shirt and a baseball cap.

His van was an older gray vehicle, possibly painted in gray primer. Sheriff's investigators said the license plate number they were given by witnesses was registered to an address in Sylmar.