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By Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 6, 2000
SANFORD -- Police stepped up patrols around Sanford Middle School on Tuesday after the rapes last week of two students on their way home from school.
Students were warned to walk home in groups and avoid isolated areas.
Officers were on the lookout for the perpetrators or suspicious activity.
Sanford police also have called in the FBI to help develop leads and to work with their profilers, Chief Brian Tooley said.
An 11-year-old girl was attacked in an alley last Wednesday after school. The next day, a 13-year-old girl told police she was raped less than a half-mile away from the first attack.
Detectives have been trying to match descriptions given by the victims to a list of sex offenders.
"We're dealing with young, juvenile females who really aren't very worldly," said Detective Kristine Ziegler of the Sanford Police Department. "It's a very traumatic experience, the situation they're going through."