Hopewell Twp. Police Investigating Sexual Assault
HOPEWELL (KDKA) -- Police in one Beaver County community are investigating whether a reported sexual assault in their community over the weekend could be connected to two others in the North Hills.
Investigators say a woman returned to her home on Westfield Drive in Hopewell Township around 7:45 a.m. on Saturday to find a masked intruder with a gun inside.
The victim told police that the man forced her into her bedroom at gunpoint, demanded money and then assaulted her.
The suspect is described as an African-American man, approximately 5'9" with a husky build. He was wearing a blue jacket, black pants, a dark ski mask and gloves.
The incident comes just about two hours before the first of two similar attacks in Ross Township.
Ross Township Police were called to The Woodhawk Club just after 9:30 a.m. Saturday after a woman claimed that a masked man with a gun forced her back inside her apartment and sexually assaulted her.
Around 6:30 a.m. Monday, an armed attacker assaulted another woman at the Cascade Apartment complex in Ross.
Hopewell Township Police released a statement saying that their department has been in touch with the Ross Township Police Department because of the similarities, but "it is unknown if the crimes are related."
While investigators are trying to determine if the assaults are connected, police confirmed that the women gave a similar description of the suspect, the threats that were made and the gun used in both of the Ross Township cases. The suspect, described as a black male, may be driving a dark blue Ford Expedition with possible driver's side damage.
Right now, officials in Ross and nearby communities are chasing down all possible leads in the case and the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County District Attorney's Office are assisting in the investigation.
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