Crime & Safety

Police: Man Attempted Sex Assault on PC Girl, 8, After Breaking Into Bedroom

The suspect ran when the young girl screamed, waking her mother. Police are looking for the public's help in tracking down the suspect.

Port Chester police are searching for a man who allegedly broke into a third-floor bedroom overnight on July 4 and attempted to sexually assault a young girl.

Police received a call from a frantic mother who lives on Poningo Street and responded to the home a few minutes after 2 a.m. The mother told officers she was woken up by her daughter's screams before a man bolted out of the third-floor apartment, Lt. James Ladeairous said.

The victim was asleep in her bedroom when she awoke to the sound of a flicking lighter and smelled cigarette smoke. When she looked up, she saw a Hispanic male with a green shirt standing over her bed, according to police.

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The man put his hands around the young girl's neck and tried to pull her pants down. When she began screaming, the man ran out of the bedroom and and fled through the apartment's unlocked front door. He was already gone by the time the victim's mother rushed to her daughter's bedroom.

Although the apartment wasn't locked, police believe the man climbed a fire escape and entered the victim's bedroom through a window, Ladeairous said.

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Port Chester detectives "are going full out with this," Ladeairous said, and police worked late into the morning hours combing the apartment for evidence and questioning neighbors and passersby.

When officers arrived, a man wearing a green shirt was standing outside. Police questioned the man, who said he was visiting friends and watching a soccer game in the first-floor apartment of the same building. The alibi checked out with the residents of the first-floor apartment, and the victim was not able to make a positive identification on the man.

The young girl wasn't seriously injured in the attempted assault. A police investigation is continuing, and detectives hope to hear from anyone who was in the area or saw anything suspicious on Poningo Street during the early morning hours of July 4.

Anyone with information on the attempted assault can call the Port Chester Police Department at 914-939-1000. All calls will be kept confidential.

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