Oct 13, 2006 9:21 pm US/Eastern
Cops Arrest Suspect In Stamford Hotel Sex Attack
High-Speed Chase Ends On Interstate 87 Near Ardsley
by Tony Aiello
STAMFORD, Conn. (CBS) ―
Police are preparing to file sex assault charges against a career criminal who crashed a stolen van in Westchester County after a high-speed chase.
Stamford investigators believe the suspect, 54-year-old Gary Roger Fricker, forced a woman into her minivan at gunpoint on Tuesday at the Marriott Hotel Parking Garage on Tresser Boulevard, then sexually assaulted the victim with her two young children sitting just a few feet away.
"We knew we were going to catch this guy, we just knew it," Stamford Police Chief Brent Larrabee said.
Police said every possible law enforcement resource was poured into the investigation.
A tip led two Stamford detectives to Putnam County Friday afternoon. They staked out an entrance to I-684, and within minutes Fricker drove by in a 1994 Dodge van that had been reported stolen by Fricker's sister.
The police, in an unmarked car, followed Fricker for some distance.
"At some point, he made them, and took off," Larrabee said.
The van led police on a high-speed chase south on I-684, west on I-287, then south on I-87.
New York State Police joined the pursuit, and rammed the stolen van several times, causing Fricker to lose control and crash near exit 7 in Ardsley.
Police then used non-lethal force to subdue the suspect.
"State Police out of New York used a taser," said Stamford Police Capt. Richard Conklin. "He was tased, he was not badly injured, even though his van rolled several times after he lost control."
Police said Fricker had a lengthy criminal record in Connecticut and in Florida, where he lived for many years. But there are no sex assaults on his rap sheet. Still, cops were combing their files to see if he could be linked to any unsolved sex assaults in the area.
Friday night Fricker was being held in Westchester County on charges related to the police pursuit. Stamford Police were applying for a warrant to allow investigators to search his van for evidence linked to the sex assault.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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