Police Impersonator Gropes Woman On Upper West Side, Police Say

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A man impersonating a police officer sexually assaulted a woman on the Upper West Side after setting up a meeting on Craigslist, police told Patch.

The suspect — who has not been identified — arranged to buy two cellphones from a 24-year-old woman at Columbus Avenue and West 63rd street in February, police told Patch. When the man showed up to the meeting he claimed he was a police officer and displayed a badge, police said.

The man then stole the woman's phones and forcibly touched her on the breast, police told Patch. He eventually fled in a white, four-door sedan, police said.

The Upper West Side theft and sexual assault was the first of three crimes the suspect has been tied to, police said. On April 15, the man met a 16-year-old boy he met on Craigslist at the Brooklyn Museum. Again, the suspect flashed a badge, but this time he didn't steal anything and eventually left the scene in his car.

On June 3, the suspect met a 23-year-old man on the Bronx Community College campus after arranging to purchase a cellphone on Craigslist, police told Patch. The police impersonator flashed a badge and stole the man's phone before taking off in his white sedan, police said.

The suspect (pictured above) is described as a man in his early 20s.

Photo by NYPD