MAN ARRESTED IN ATTACKS ON TWO GIRLS, AGES 7, 17.

Byline: - Ryan Oliver

A man suspected of molesting a 7-year-old girl at Strathern Elementary School last week was arrested moments after he allegedly attempted to molest a high school student, police said Wednesday.

Juan Antonio Rosales, 19, was being held at Van Nuys jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. He was booked on suspicion of felony lewd act with a child under 14 in connection with the assault of a 7-year-old.

He is also considered the prime suspect in a Tuesday night attack of a 17-year-old girl at John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley.

``We'll be interviewing him, and, hopefully, he confesses to the crimes,'' said Los Angeles Detective H. Berdin with the LAPD's North Hollywood Division.

The 17-year-old girl, a student at Poly High, told police that a man approached her on campus about 8 p.m. Tuesday and attempted to molest her, Berdin said.

``She pushed him out of the way and ran to school police,'' Berdin said.

LAUSD officers swept the area, located Rosales and took him into custody. Rosales told police he attended night classes at the high school in order to improve his English and writing skills, she said.

Investigators noticed that Rosales matched the description of a man wanted in the March 6 assault of the 7-year-old girl, she said.

The girl was attending an after-school program at Strathern Elementary School when she was attacked.

Berdin said detectives are attempting to determine how the man gained access to the child.

``We had been looking for this guy four or five days,'' she said. ``We had passed out some of our crime alert fliers to the schools.''