Daytona police: Man pretended to be officer, forced woman to perform sex acts

Woman says man told her she was being arrested for indecent exposure

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Police are looking for a man accused of impersonating a police office and attacking a woman.

The incident happened Thursday morning around 6 a.m. along State Road A1A near the Daytona Shore Inn.

Police say the 37-year-old victim is a transient and was walking to the inn to stay with a friend when she noticed a silver SUV that kept driving by. When the woman entered the parking lot, the SUV pulled up behind her.

According to a Daytona Beach police report, the driver then yelled out that he was a cop and needed to talk to her. The victim told officers the man was wearing a jacket with what appeared to be an embroidered badge on the front.

"She was shaken from head-to-toe," said Dawn Phippin, the victim's friend who was staying at the Daytona Shore Inn. "She thought it was a cop, when he said, 'Get in the car.'"

According to the police report, the victim got in the car, but asked the driver to see his badge. He pulled out an ID with the word "commissioner" on it. She asked what that meant and he allegedly said that is what police officers are called.

"When he showed that commissioner badge and he kept putting his finger over something and she said, 'Can I see that again, can I see that again?' Yeah, he didn't want to show it to her," said Phippin.

Phippin said that's when her friend knew something wasn't right.

According to the police report, the man then threatened to arrest her, pulled down his pants, grabbed her hand and forced her to perform a sex act.

Phippin worries her friend isn't the only victim out there.

"I think this is not the first time and I think once this comes out, I think there's going to be more," said Phippin.

After the incident, the victim said she was ordered out of the vehicle. She spotted some nearby officers and told them everything that had just happened. Detectives swabbed her hand for DNA and are now checking nearby hotels for surveillance video.

The man is described as a white man between 25 and 30 years old with long wavy hair and clean shaven. He was wearing a blue polo shirt with the name "Al" on it, a jacket with a badge embroidered on the front and gray sweat pants.

His vehicle may be a silver Dodge Journey with a partial Florida license plate of HTC-417.

If you see this man or SUV or have any information that can help, you're asked to call Daytona Beach police at 386-323-3569.