Police Say Suspect in the Halloween Sex Attack May Have Fled City

The fake firefighter sex abuse suspect, Peter Braunstein, may have departed the city, police said.While New York Police Department officers have been scouring the city in pursuit of Mr. Braunstein since he allegedly attacked a Chelsea woman on Halloween, the department’s chief spokesman, Paul Browne, told The New York Sun that the suspect might not even be in the state.An article posted on a Web site over the weekend seconds that assertion. A Manhattan news and gossip Web site, Gawker.com, reported yesterday that someone had posted a lengthy piece about Mr. Braunstein on Craigslist.com on Sunday that said there was only a 60% chance that Mr. Braunstein was still in the city. The anonymous Craig list writer also predicted that Mr. Braunstein would attack someone else.“He’s going to do something again, to someone (not a stranger) to try to ‘get it out’ of his system,” the article said. A Craigslist employee said yesterday that the author had removed the posting from Craigslist.com.Mr. Browne said there was no indication that the Craigslist writer knows Mr. Braunstein. He said detectives “are interviewing people that have had direct contact with him and not relying on speculation.”Mr. Braunstein has been on the run since October 31, when, clad as a firefighter, he allegedly started a couple of fires in a Chelsea building and made his way into the apartment of a 34-year-old woman with whom he once worked, where he drugged and molested her for close to 13 hours. Police did not recover any of the suspect’s belongings.The Halloween crime would not be Mr. Braunstein’s first offense. Over the summer he pleaded guilty to menacing an ex-girlfriend and received three years probation, five days of community service, and a final order of protection.Since Mr. Braunstein’s face has appeared in newspapers and on television screens, numerous people have reported sightings of a man resembling Mr. Braunstein, 41. While police are not ruling out the possibility that Mr. Braunstein could be dead, they said there was no evidence to suggest that he was.The latest tip that sparked police action came in just after midnight yesterday. A man reported that someone who looked like Mr. Braunstein was seen walking on Degraw Street in Cobble Hill, police said. The witness eventually lost sight of the man. Police said they searched the immediate vicinity, including an abandoned church at 56 Strong Place, to no avail.On Thursday, a coffee shop owner told police Mr. Braunstein entered his establishment and purchased a large cup of regular coffee with milk. Police hunted for the suspect at the shop and at a nearby abandoned building.Police said the press circus surrounding the case could have impeded the investigation. “Some of the elements in the media have compromised the investigation,” Mr. Browne said.Police said a paper trail ran cold after a newspaper story said Mr. Braunstein was being tracked by his MetroCard usage in the subway system. The article may have prompted Mr. Braunstein to stop using the card.

Police Say Suspect in the Halloween Sex Attack May Have Fled City

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