| OCR Text |
Show Quick thinking stopped Alpine rape The quick thinking of a young Alpine woman may have prevented her from being raped. Alpine Police Chief Brent Leseberg said on Dec. 15 a young woman went to a friends house where she parked her car and ran in to the home for a few minutes. When she came out, she got into the vehicle and was backing out into the roadway when a man came from behind the front seat and told her to keep driving. He was wearing what appeared to be a stocking cap over hi3 face at the time. lla reached over in an attempt to molest her but she swerved into the driveway of a residence and in doing so, hit a tree with the vehicle. The man then took off running, Leseberg said. The incident is one of four that have occurred in Utah County in the past two months and now under investigation by police. In two cases, a knife was used as a weapon, however as : there was never any threat of weapon here, police don't k no w if it was the same individual as the other incidents or not. Officers in Provo, Orem and Alpine say they have very s little to go on at this point, and urge women to use caution when they are out alone after dark or in the early morning hours. Victims of the recent incidents have ranged in age from late teens to late 20's, i'ficers said. Under investigation are two rapes or attempted rapes have occurred in Provo, an attempted rape in Orem, and the molestation in Alpine, they said. "We don't believe the two incidents in Provo are related, but we believe the attempted rape in Provo and the one in Orem are definitely the same person, and there are some similarities with the attempt in Alpine," Capt. George Pier-pont, Pier-pont, Provo Police Detective, said. Seo HAPE on page 3 Rape Continued from front page "But we don't have much to go on in any of them," he said. In the incidents which are be-r be-r lieved related, Orem Detective 1 Gerald Nielsen said a young woman was getting into her car in 'i a parking lot of a mall about 10:30 ! p.m. when a man wearing a ski i mask came up, wielded a knife, and ii made her get into a car. She was blindfolded and driven k around to a vacant building where the man attempted to rape her but :5 wasn't successful, a He drove her back to the parking lot where he released her, warning 1 her he would kill her if she notified authorities, o Pierpont said two weeks later, a young woman was jogging along Provo's Freedom Boulevard (200 West) about 960 North about 7:30 p.m. when a man in a vehicle stopped her, used a knife and pulled something over her head. He put her into the vehicle, drove around, ending up at a vacant va-cant building, where he attempted to rape her but wasn't successful. He then drove her back and released re-leased her. He threatened to kill her if she looked back. She received some superficial cuts. The other Provo rape is not believed be-lieved to be related. Here a man entered an apartment through a window about 3:30 a.m. and raped theyoungwoman. Asecond woman in the apartment was not bothered, Pierpont said. "This was definitely a rape and we don't believe it was the same individual," he said. None of the victims can give a description of the man who assaulted as-saulted them. The man involved in the two attempted rapes is believed to be about 5'9" to 5'11", stocky build, and possibly in his mid-20's. Police say in rape prevention courses taught to local groups they urge women to lock their doors and windows at night; to not jog in the evening or early morning hours when it is dark or alone and to stay away from dark streets. They also urge them to lock their car doors and keep the windows up when they are driving alone; and to take caution when they approach theirvehicles, lookingtomake sure there is no car parked close by or no one who appears to be lurking in the area. |
