Charges: Brooklyn Park man posed as cop, then raped woman

Prosecutors have charged a 35-year-old Brooklyn Park man with kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct, alleging he posed as a police officer then abducted and sexually assaulted a woman in Fridley last month.

Claiming to be a detective, Gideon Charles Arrington grabbed his victim as she left her job, according to the complaint filed Thursday in Anoka County District Court. Arrington forced the woman into his car and drove her to another location where he raped her, scrubbed her body with bleach, then gave her $2 afterward to catch a bus, police said.

Police identified Arrington as the attacker through DNA analysis and a witness picked him out of a lineup. Detectives from the Anoka Hennepin Narcotics and Violent Crimes Task Force arrested the man Tuesday.

Arrington has two prior convictions in Hennepin County. In 2004 he was convicted of misdemeanor disorderly conduct and in 2009 he pleaded guilty to 1st degree aggravated robbery and received a 50-month prison sentence.

Minneapolis police officials say they do not think Arrington is connected to a similar incident which occurred near the University of Minnesota campus last month.

Police spokeswoman Cyndi Barrington said that investigation is ongoing, and investigators are awaiting results from evidence being tested by the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.