Police say Bloomfield man posed as cop in assault of woman
A Bloomfield man is accused of posing as a police officer as a way of making a woman feel safe with him before he allegedly assaulted her inside his vehicle, Pittsburgh police said.
The suspect, Andrew Ranallo, 31, met the woman for the first time at a restaurant in the city on Thursday, when he identified himself as police officer by using identification cards, police said.
The woman said she felt safe enough with the man she assumed to be a police officer that she went with him in his car to another location, where he allegedly assaulted her inside his vehicle and refused to let her out.
Police said she escaped from the vehicle when it was stopped at a traffic signal and ran for help.
Detectives from the police department’s special victims unit arrested Ranallo on charges of indecent assault, criminal attempt at indecent assault, false imprisonment, and impersonating a public servant.
Ranallo was arraigned on the charges on Saturday morning and released on $10,000 unsecured bond, pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 4.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.