SUSPECT JAILED IN GIRL'S RAPE AT PALMDALE MALL.Byline: CHARLES F. BOSTWICK Staff Writer PALMDALE -- A Palmdale man who drew detectives' suspicion when they went to interview his sex-offender father has been arrested in the rape of a 10-year-old girl in an Antelope Valley Mall The Antelope Valley Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Palmdale, California. Opened in September, 1990, its buildings take up around 1 million square feet (90,000 m²). Its physical main building, parking lots, and ring road businesses encompass an area a bit less than 0. movie theater, sheriff's officials said Tuesday. Marque Clark, 31, was arrested Monday night after failing a lie detector test lie detector test n. a popular name for a polygraph which tests the physiological reaction of a person to questions asked by a testing expert. A potential or actual criminal defendant or possible witness cannot be forced or ordered to take a lie detector test. and confessing to the rape, said Capt. Margaret Wagner, commander of the the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Sheriff's Department's Special Victims Bureau. ``There's a huge sigh of relief from our city,'' said Mayor James Ledford, who -- at a news conference Tuesday to announce the arrest -- reiterated his opinion that the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley has more than its fair share of California's sex offenders. Clark was being held in lieu of $2 million bail. DNA test DNA test n → DNS-Test m results were being awaited, detectives said. Detectives did not describe evidence that they said links him to the rape and was found during a search of the west Palmdale home where he lives with his father. The girl seems to be weathering the crime, Detective Tim O'Quinn said. ``She is extremely strong, extremely bright,'' he said. ``The family was overjoyed o·ver·joy tr.v. o·ver·joyed, o·ver·joy·ing, o·ver·joys To fill with joy; delight. o that we had a suspect in custody,'' he added. He said the girl's mother told him she had been feeling that hunting for the rapist was like looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a needle in a haystack For the epidode of the TV series House, see . A needle in a haystack is an English idiom that refers to an object (or a person) that is difficult to find because it is lost, mixed in, or buried within a much larger space, mass, crowd, or group of some other objects. . The little girl had gone to the theater Aug. 29 to watch a movie while her father was in the mall. She was coming out about 1:30 p.m. to rejoin her father when the rapist accosted ac·cost tr.v. ac·cost·ed, ac·cost·ing, ac·costs 1. To approach and speak to boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request. 2. To solicit for sex. her in a theater hallway and forced her into an empty theater, detectives said. The rapist, armed with a knife, assaulted the girl behind the movie screen and then fled out a back door and left her in the theater, detectives said. Outraged by the crime, community residents have phoned in some 200 tips to detectives. But detectives said it was just solid police work that led them to Clark, whom they met while visiting the 23 registered sex offenders who live in west Palmdale to question them about the rape. Clark's 60-year-old father is a registered sex offender who was convicted in the mid-1980s in Van Nuys for molesting a girl under age 14, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. records of the Los Angeles County district attorney. He lives about 1 1/2 miles from the mall. The father was not home when detectives went to the house, but they spoke to the son, Wagner said. She said detectives' suspicions were aroused by the younger Clark's statements, including an admission he had been at the mall on the day of the rape. They asked to take a DNA DNA: see nucleic acid. DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid One of two types of nucleic acid (the other is RNA); a complex organic compound found in all living cells and many viruses. It is the chemical substance of genes. sample. Detectives obtained security video from the mall, had it enhanced and saw a man who resembled the younger Clark. Detectives brought Clark to the Lancaster sheriff's station for a lie detector test, which he failed, Wagner said. Clark eventually confessed, she said. Clark is younger than the description originally provided by detectives of the rapist, who was said to be about 35 to 45 years old, and he has no graying mustache like that shown in the composite drawing created from the victim's description. But detectives said the girl's description corresponded in significant ways with Clark's appearance, and it is common for composite drawings to differ from a criminal's true appearance. ``We're basing the composite drawing on the memory of a 10-year-old girl who saw the suspect for a short period of time,'' Sgt. Dan Scott said. The girl said her attacker had an accent that might be Nigerian. Detectives said Clark does not have an accent but has distinctive speech. ``There was definitely a tone (that) a person would be able to perceive as an accent,'' O'Quinn said. charles.bostwick(at)dailynews (661) 267-5743 CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- ran in AV edition only) Sgt. Dan Scott, left, and Capt. Margaret Wagner of the county Sheriff's Department Special Victims Bureau speak to reporters at the Palmdale sheriff's station on Tuesday about the arrest of the mall rapist suspect. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer (2 -- color in AV edition only) CLARK |
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