Vigilante group leads search for pedophile who has attacked NINE young girls in the Bronx

7-7-2014 New York:

A vigilante-style group has taken up the case of the man who police say has accosted nine girls and young women in the Bronx since February.

The Hero Initiative hit the streets of the north central Bronx in search of a man who's created a wave of fear in the area as families fear for the safety of their little girls.

The grassroots group has factions across America and even abroad in the United Kingdom.

'We are members of the Community Emergency Response Team, Citizen Police Academy, and neighborhood watch groups. We volunteer in weekly outreach events, used needle pickup patrols, free self-defense classes and ongoing crime prevention,' reads their website.

The organization's Bronx arm swarmed the area in April and again last month.

'We were out in the Bronx tonight putting up hundreds of flyers about a serial sex attacker,' the group wrote in a Facebook page. 'As always, the community was behind us 100% and it was amazing to get so much support from the local people.'

Police, too, are desperate to put an end to the deviant's rampage.

Our kids should be able to walk...(without) being touched by a stranger,' Lt. Austin Morange told WABC.

The suspect is suspected to be behind nine forcible gropings in the area--seven girls aged between 12 and 16 and two women aged 18 and 21.

He only approaches girls who are walking or jogging alone, gropes them from behind and then runs away.

Lt. Morange told the New York Times that the suspect is usually silent when he strikes, but sometimes speaks to his victims.

'A few times he’s said something like: "You’re pretty. You’re sexy. You’re beautiful,'" Morange said. ..Continued.. by Daily Mail Reporter