This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Authorities are looking for a man pretending to be a police officer who sexually assaulted a Kearns girl.
Two 8-year-old girls were approached by the man at 1:45 p.m. Monday while walking in the 4980 block of Pieper Boulevard (4980 West), according to Detective Ken Hansen of the Unified Police Department. The man said he was a police officer and when asked by one of the girls why he wasn't wearing a uniform, he said that made it easier for him to catch "bad guys."
The man told the children he was concerned for their safety and would walk them home, Hansen said. He said that after walking a short distance, the man told one of the girls to go home.
A few minutes later, he threw the other girl over a fence into a small field by railroad tracks, jumped the fence and assaulted her, Hansen said. The man then fled, and the girl walked home.
The suspect is described as a young, white man with bushy, brown hair, blue or green eyes and a scar on one of the corners of his mouth. He was wearing blue pajama-style pants and might have been seen in a "shiny" red car with "shiny" wheels just before he approached the girls.
Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call the Unified Police Department tip line at 385-GOT-TIPS (385-468-8477).
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC