In a crime emblematic of every parent’s worst fear, a stranger plucked a 4-year-old girl from in front of her home on a quiet residential Boro Park street Monday evening as she played near other children, and then sexually assaulted her.

She was found two hours later, wandering alone, after a crowd of panicked neighbors had canvassed the area.

The assault has roiled the tight-knit Brooklyn neighborhood, which has a large chasidic population, following a series of similar incidents last year.

“The community is up in arms,” a coordinator of the neighborhood watch group Boro Park Shomrim Patrol, Yanky Daskal, said. “People are scared.”

Neighborhood parents yesterday said they were on guard even as police flooded the neighborhood in search of the suspect, who is at large.
Sima Winkler, who lives on 52nd Street near the victim’s home, is the mother of six girls. She said the street had been full of children playing when the girl was abducted.

“Nobody saw anything. She disappeared,” Ms. Winkler said.

“We’re shocked,” she said. “We thought we were more safe.”

She added: “Even the kids, they have nightmares now. They’re afraid of going out.”

Another neighbor said the whole block had joined in the search for the girl after she went missing.

According to police, the girl was forced into a vehicle at about 7:15 p.m. by a man who took her to an unknown location, exposed himself, and forcibly touched her.

She was found about two hours later, wandering alone nearly 10 blocks away. Police said a resident called 911 after noticing the victim walking along a sidewalk.

The girl was then taken to a nearby hospital.

Police said they were searching for a suspect described as a Caucasian man in a black T-shirt driving a black vehicle.

Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Democrat of Brooklyn, said yesterday that the girl was found without her underwear, which was later found at a different location.

“Whoever did this did not just take her for a ride,” he said, “”This guy is sick.”

At a press conference in his district office, Mr. Hikind urged anyone with information about the abduction to come forward and contact police. He also called on parents to be alert.

“We can pass all the laws in the world,” he said. “It won’t make any difference if you don’t protect your children.”

“This never would have happened if there had been an adult outside,” he added. He asked anyone who has information about the crime, or may have seen something suspicious, to contact the 66th Precinct.

Mr. Daskal described the atmosphere in the area yesterday as “very tense, nerve wracking.”

Throughout the day, a dozen uniformed police officers posted in the area spoke with residents, and a police trailer and numerous patrol cars were stationed nearby.

Some mothers pushed strollers through the once sleepy neighborhood, but even with the increased police presence, few children could be seen playing outside.

The assault followed a string of similar incidents last year. According to Mr. Hikind’s office, there were five attempted abductions of girls of various ages in Boro Park in April and May of last year.

An NYPD spokesman, Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne, said police had arrested a man last year who was accused of exposing himself to several girls. The man was imprisoned, but Mr. Browne said that following standard procedure, police would investigate whether Monday’s abduction was related to prior cases.

“It’s someone we would check on again,” Mr. Browne said.

He said the police had questioned the victim twice as of yesterday and were talking to witnesses.

Mr. Daskal said he believes the community was especially devastated by the string of assaults because of the conservative sexual mores of the chasidic community.

“Children don’t know anything about it, only when they get married,” he said. “When a thing like this happens in a chasidic community, it can blow the parents’ minds away.”

He said the Shomrim Patrol, whose volunteer members operate under the auspices of the NYPD and respond to reports of suspicious activity, was assisting the police in the search for the suspect.

“Everybody should know it can happen in their neighborhood,” he said. “It can happen to anybody.”