Fake Officer Sought In Sexual Assault

Police in Spirit Lake, Idaho, are searching for a man who broke into an 82-year-old woman’s house claiming to be a police officer and sexually assaulted her last week.

The woman was treated and released following the August 11 attack, said Susan Cotter, a reserve officer.

Police said the man knocked on the woman’s apartment door about 12:30 a.m. and told her he was looking for the local cable company, police said. The woman, who peered out her front door past its security chain, refused to let the man inside.

He then told the woman he was a Spirit Lake police officer and demanded to be let inside. She again refused to let the man in, and he forced his way through the door, police said.

The man sexually assaulted the woman, who lives alone in an apartment-type retirement complex, and left without taking any of her belongings, police said.

Neighbors and the woman did not report seeing anyone suspicious in the complex prior to the attack, police said.

The man was described as about 33, 6 feet tall and 200 pounds. He has short, dark brown hair and was wearing glasses with round, black frames.