Trail Is Cold in Search for Alleged Fake Fireman
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The trail has gone cold in the search for the alleged fake fireman.
The last confirmed sign of Peter Braunstein, 41, who is being sought in connection with the 13-hour sexual abuse of a Chelsea woman by a man dressed as a firefighter on Halloween, was on November 2, when he used a MetroCard to get into the subway system, police officials said.
Other than using a credit card to purchase the MetroCard, police officials said, Mr. Braunstein has not left a paper trail. He used cash to pay for his room at the Super 8 Hotel on West 46th Street the previous night.
During the ensuing weeks, police have received numerous calls from people claiming to have sighted a man resembling Mr. Braunstein in New York City. In some cases, police arrived after the subject disappeared; in others, the subject proved to be someone else.
Police received their most recent tip yesterday at about 10:30 a.m. A Garment District security guard called in saying that a man who looked like Mr. Braunstein was on 38th Street and Fifth Avenue. When police arrived at the scene and questioned the subject, they learned he was a tourist visiting from Italy.
Detectives from the Police Department’s special victims unit are leading the investigation, police said. Despite the Police Department’s efforts and the fact that the case has been well-publicized, Mr. Braunstein, a freelance writer, has evaded police since the alleged Halloween attack. He is believed to have targeted his 34-year-old victim, who he worked with at Women’s Wear Daily, although it is not clear if the victim knew the attacker. At about 6 p.m. on Halloween, a man dressed as a firefighter started a couple of fires in the woman’s building before drugging and sexually abusing her.
Mr. Braunstein was arrested in the spring for sending threatening emails to his ex-girlfriend, making harassing phone calls to her at work and at home, menacing her with a knife, and e-mailing nude photographs of her to her co-workers, police sources and the criminal complaint said. He pleaded guilty to menacing and received three years’ probation, five days of community service, and a final order of protection.