The Associated Press
BURLINGTON, N.C. (AP) -- A man has been charged with impersonating an officer to kidnap and sexually assault a 16-year-old girl, police said.
Ismael Rodriguez Cruz, 25, of Burlington, was charged Sunday with first-degree kidnapping, second-degree rape, two counts of second-degree sex offense, impersonating a police officer, false imprisonment and resisting arrest, according to warrants.
Police said a girl told officers she was kidnapped late Saturday in an apartment complex parking lot. The girl told police that a man posing as a police officer told her to get in his car or she would be arrested.
The man drove the girl to the parking lot of a food store and assaulted her in the car, she told police. The girl escaped and ran to a home where she knocked on the door and asked for help just after midnight.
Officers said it was rare and disturbing to find someone allegedly impersonating an officer.
“Even if an officer is in plain clothes, people need to ask: ‘Are you an officer, can you show me some form of ID?”’ said Capt. Greg Seel of the Burlington Police Department