Police: Man posed as officer in assault
Salvatore Longo, 40, of S. Phila., faces charges in a Jan. 30 attack on a 20-year-old woman.
A South Philadelphia man has been charged with sexually assaulting two women while impersonating a police officer, Philadelphia police said yesterday.
Salvatore Longo, 40, of the 300 block of Gladstone Street, is charged with sexual assault and related charges, police said.
Capt. John Darby of the Special Victims Unit said that about 12:30 a.m. Jan. 30, a 20-year-old woman was walking in the area of Kensington Avenue and Westmoreland Street when she was stopped by a man driving a red 2001 Pontiac Grand Am. He identified himself as a police officer.
The man then handcuffed the woman and ordered her into the back of the car, police said. The attacker had a badge, handcuffs, and a device that looked like a walkie-talkie, police said.
He drove the woman to the 1700 block of South Front Street in South Philadelphia under I-95, showed her a gun and sexually assaulted her, police said.
The woman fled and alerted area residents, police said. Officers investigating the crime found a vehicle matching the description in the 300 block of Gladstone Street in South Philadelphia, police said. Officers took Longo from a residence there, police said.
Police said they had linked Longo to another case involving a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by a man impersonating a police officer in September and December in the area of Broad and Porter Streets. Longo fit the description of the assailant.
In one instance, the attacker allegedly solicited the woman for sex and then claimed he was a police officer, police said.
Darby said police think Longo was involved in other similar attacks. He urged anyone who may have been attacked in a similar manner to call the Special Victims Unit at 215-685-3265.