The Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Authorities were hunting Tuesday for a man who posed as a police officer to assault two women a few miles outside West Plains in a mainly rural county in south-central Missouri.
Howell County Sheriff Robbie Crites said the man used a red-and-blue flashing light in his unmarked car and was wearing a blue uniform when he stopped women drivers after dark and attacked them in two incidents earlier this month. The area is about 80 miles southeast of Springfield.
One woman reported she was raped and the other was able to fight the man off, Crites said.
“We’re taking this very, very seriously,” Crites told The Associated Press. “This guy is betraying the trust the public has in us, and the nature of the crime, actually attacking and unfortunately raping one female, is as serious as we get.”
Howell County deputies, the Missouri Highway Patrol and West Plains police are investigating.
Crites said about two dozen leads have come in from the public since his department released a composite drawing of the impostor Monday.