Man attempted to rape, kidnap woman in grocery store parking lot, Bucks County DA says
Update: The charges against Daniel Pierson have been dropped after a 20-year-old woman was charged with filing a false police report about an attempted rape and kidnapping, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said.
MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS) -- A Yardley man was arrested in less than 24 hours after he allegedly attempted to rape and kidnap a woman in the parking lot of a Redner's grocery store in Middletown Township on Tuesday night.
Daniel Pierson, 41, faces multiple charges including criminal attempt to commit kidnapping to facilitate a felony, criminal attempt to commit kidnapping to inflict injury or terror, criminal attempt to commit rape by forcible compulsion, and more.
The Bucks County District Attorney's Office said in a release Thursday the Middletown Township Police responded around 8:30 p.m. to a report of an attempted rape and assault of a woman in the parking lot of Redner's off Lincoln Highway.
The woman told officers she parked her truck at the back of the parking lot and almost immediately after getting out, was grabbed from behind by a man and she started to scream and fight to get out of his grip, as stated in the release. They said the man wouldn't let go and during the struggle, he was able to pull down her pants and yelled at her to shut up and punched her in the face. The release continues saying he lifted and moved the woman toward his truck but she kept screaming which scared him off and he ran back to his truck.
"Pierson is known to police to be a methamphetamine user," the release said.
Pierson was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon after the truck, described by the woman as an older blue Ford F-150 or F-250, was found at a home near the 1500 block of Newport Road in Bristol Township. Officials said Pierson was driving a different car.
The woman told officers that the incident happened between 7:50 p.m. and 8:10 p.m. and investigators were able to identify a truck that matched the woman's descriptions later in the area. Officials said the truck was traced to someone related to Pierson. They said Pierson matched the description of the attacker.
Pierson was taken to Bucks County Correctional Facility with bail under $1 million.
