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The Carbondale Police Department on Monday worked to dispel rumors circulating online about an alleged sexual assault.
Following reports of a man breaking into an Carbondale woman’s home and sexually assaulting her on Saturday evening, concerns about safety and rumors about the incident have spread across the community, Carbondale Police Chief Kirk Wilson said during a meeting at the Old Thompson Barn on Monday night.
The town and the police department called the community meeting to ease fears and share current facts of the case.
Wilson confirmed that officers were dispatched at 7:52 p.m. on Saturday to a report of sexual assault. An elderly female victim reported that an unknown male sexually assaulted her and left the residence. The suspect was described as being in his 30s and wearing a black hooded sweatshirt.
No other description of the suspect was given. But Wilson said rumors swelled online about the nature of the crime and who the suspect may be. He confirmed that the victim was not held hostage for 48 hours or kidnapped, as some online posts claimed.
In response to a question about whether migrants from Venezuela who have come to Carbondale were part of the misinformation spread about the suspect, a public information officer for the police department and the town of Carbondale said some “newcomers have been targeted” online.
“People have accused certain groups in our community of doing this. We have no information to say that that is accurate or not,” Wilson said. “This is not a political thing, and we’ve had a lot of people making it political online as well, and just understand when people are posting this information or misinformation, there is a human being that went through a horrific, traumatic event that is reading everything that you and all this community and agitators outside of this community are posting.”
The Carbondale Police Department told the crowd it has reason to believe the incident was isolated. Officers contacted other police jurisdictions in the Roaring Fork Valley and confirmed a sexual assault of the same nature or by a victim with a similar desc