Police respond to Facebook post alleging sexual assault

>> After a Torrington woman’s social media post about allegedly being sexually assaulted on Sunday circulated around town, city police said Tuesday that any such claims are always investigated, and warned about the spreading of false information on social media.

At this point, no specific information has been provided by police about the incident that led to the woman’s post.

The post, which was shared thousands of times and linked to The Register Citizen Facebook page by a reader, is from a woman who said she was raped after stopping her car to have a cigarette and later learned there may have been other such incidents in the area.

It had been deleted as of 6 p.m. Tuesday.

In the post, the woman stated

she reported the incident to police. Police have not confirmed this information.

Detective Kevin Tieman said Tuesday that the department was investigating a sexual assault reported between the late hours of Sunday evening and earlymorning Monday.

The police department is currently investigating two “active, ongoing sexual assault complaints that involve sexual assaults in which the victim reported the male as being unknown to them,” according to a post on its Facebook page.

“In response to various social media posts involving the number of sexual assaults recently in Torrington, we must clarify this for the public. The Torrington Police Department currently has 2 active, ongoing sexual assault complaints that involve sexual assaults in which the victim reported the male as being unknown to them. We do not have information that these two incidents are linked in any way at this time,” wrote police department representatives. “We want residents to remember that some information posted on various social media outlets are not always accurate when it comes to law enforcement matters and this can cause problems within the community.”

This was appended to a general statement issued Tuesday morning by the department saying that information regarding alleged sexual assaults would be provided at an appropriate time, if necessary.

“The Torrington Police Department has been made aware of recent social media postings in regard to reported sexual assaults that have been alleged in our city,” wrote Tieman in the statement. “The Torrington Police Department takes very seriously the health, wellbeing and safety of our residents on a daily basis. Information that needs to be given to the public in regard to a safety concern will be done in a timely fashion on a case-by-case basis through the proper media outlets.”

Information on specific cases is not shared with the public if the investigation could be affected as a result, Tieman wrote.

“In every reported crime, police must interview, gather evidence, canvass the area, and follow up with the reports that we get from residents who report they are victims of a crime. When investigations are in their preliminary stages, some information vital to the case is not released as it may jeopardize the overall outcome of the investigation,” wrote Tieman. “Any information the public needs to be made aware of will be released to the media outlets for public dissemination immediately.”

The woman who wrote the post on Facebook also did not immediately respond to a message from The Register Citizen seeking comment Tuesday.

There are two references to sexual assaults in the Torrington Police Department press report for the period between May 5 and May 9, both logged with a given location of 576 Main Street, the site of the Torrington Police Department.

The first, logged May 8 at 1:34 a.m. by Officer Toledo, references a “Sex Assault Forcible Contact,” and indicated that a report is required.

The second, logged May 9 at 8:49 a.m. by Officer Cattey, references a “Sexual Assault (Statutory), and also indicates that a report is required.

A second sexual assault reported in recent days, Tieman said, is also under investigation.