Previously: SFPD: “No Record” of Sexual Assault at 19th and Capp Streets
In response to reports of a sexual assault published on several local websites, the SFPD has released a statement saying that there might be a connection to an earlier attack in the area.
On Wednesday, a woman saying she is the friend of the victim of a sexual assault posted an account of the attack on Facebook, and sent it to local websites Mission Mission and Mission Local.
Mission Local subsequently published an interview with the alleged victim.
According to the interview, the victim was walking home from Bender’s Bar on South Van Ness Avenue shortly before 2 AM on Monday when she was attacked from behind, dragged to a Capp Street driveway, and raped.
Though the Facebook and Mission Mission accounts claimed the victim had reported the attack and said “Police help? NOTHING,” according to SFPD, the assault was not reported.
In a statement sent to media Friday afternoon, SFPD says that after inspectors from the Special Victims Unit interviewed the reporter of the Mission Local article, they have identified the alleged victim.
SFPD says they “have discovered some similarities between the previously unreported incident, and a separate attempted sexual assault case, which was reported
to police on June 15th and occurred just five blocks away. On June 15, 2012 on Erie Alley near 13th Street, a woman was approached from behind by two men who grabbed her from behind and attempted to sexually assault her.”
“In both incidents, the women were assaulted by two men, one short, possibly 5′-04″ and the other taller, about 5′-10″. The men were described as being a Hispanic and an African American, or two Hispanic males,” said SFPD in a statement.
According to SFPD, “additional investigative personnel have been assigned to determine if there is any actual connection between these two incidents and Mission Police Station has increased patrols in the area.” SFPD has also released a “Community Safety Advisory” containing “tips to prevent becoming a victim of street crime.”
On Thursday, SFPD spokesperson Sgt. Michael Andraychak told the Appeal “we would encourage the victim of any such incident to immediately report it to police.” As of Friday afternoon, however, the alleged victim has not filed a police report regarding the assault.
SFPD urges anyone with information on either of these incidents to contact the SFPD by calling their Anonymous Tip Line at (415) 575-4444 or Text a Tip at TIP411 (type SFPD followed by your message).
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