Police search for man who fondled girl, 7, in her sleep

Image 1 of 2

A suspected pedophile is on the loose in Pontiac, police say he snuck into a home and fondled a little girl.

Police believe the suspect could be a sex offender - now the pressure is on to get him off the street and the woman who chased him out of her house says it  cannot happen soon enough.

"I just hate to imagine what could’ve been," she said. "What might have happened."

Speaking  from behind a security door, this 53-year-old grandmother is still shaken up over what did happen.

After the fact I was like why didn't I grab a knife or something," she said.

She told FOX 2 how a man crept into her home Saturday morning in the 200 block of South Anderson in Pontiac and went inside her 7-year-old granddaughter’s bedroom.

"I guess he was caressing my granddaughter’s lips," said the grandmother. "So she came to me and said 'Grandma someone is in the room, someone is in the house.'"

The woman chased the man out of her home.

"He dived out of the window and I slammed the window shut," she said.

Neighbors got wind of what happened and were unnerved.

"I got kids of my own and I would hate for something like that to happen," said a neighbor. "I'm sure if somebody finds him before police do, he's not going to make it."

Oakland County Sheriff deputies brought out a canine unit to search for the suspect Saturday but no luck.

"A child that's being touched in the sanctity of their own home being awakened at 5 a.m. to a stranger standing over them, I can't imagine," said Sgt. Chris Giolitti, Oakland County Sheriff's Office.

Giolitti says their work is far from over and they have a good idea of who they're looking for.

"We are looking for a black male subject, about 5 feet, 9 inches to 6 feet, medium build," Giolitti said. "He apparently had braids that were squared off on the back of his neck. He was wearing a blue plaid jacket, and Nike tennis shoes."

"This pedophile, you need to be locked up for life," said the grandmother. "So no one else has to go through that again."

If you know who the guy is, call the Oakland County Sheriff's Office at 1-888-TURN-1-IN.