Couple Attacked by Phony Police Officer

A man posing as a police officer stopped a young couple driving down a street in Carson, told them they were under arrest and took them to a nearby industrial area, where he beat the man and raped the woman, sheriff’s deputies said Sunday.

The victims, a 19-year-old Sepulveda man and a 20-year-old La Puente woman, said the assailant was dressed in a dark uniform, wore a gun belt around his waist and drove a white car with a police-like radio inside, said Deputy Drew Basey.

Investigators believe the assailant was not a real police officer because the sheriff’s deputies who patrol Carson wear green-and-tan uniforms and drive black-and-white cars, Basey said.

After their ordeal, the couple telephoned relatives, who took them to a hospital, where they were treated and released.

The assailant was described as black, between 25 and 30 years old, 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds, Basey said.