By Susan Weich
ST. CHARLES • A reserve officer
with the Pine Lawn Police Department has been charged with raping his former
girlfriend at an apartment in St. Charles in May.
Rico L. Frazier, 23, of the 5900
block of San Simeon Drive in south St. Louis County, was charged Thursday with
burglary, rape, felonious restraint and two counts of sodomy.
The woman, 22, a student at
Lindenwood University, reported the attack just before 4 a.m. on May 1. It
happened about two miles from campus at the Time Centre Apartments, 901 Time
Centre Drive. The woman was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Frazier had been a volunteer
reserve police officer with the Pine Lawn Police Department for three months at
the time of the assault. He graduated from the Eastern Missouri Police Academy
in November 2013.
Pine Lawn Police Lt. Steven
Blakeny said Frazier was with the department as a reserve until the end of June
when he told officers he was taking a paying job with another department. It
could not be determined Thursday whether another department hired him. Blakeny
said Frazier did not volunteer with the department after the attack.
“This kid on paper appeared to
be stellar,” he said. “He was one of the standout students at the academy.”
Frazier and the woman dated
until October 2013, St. Charles County Prosecutor Tim Lohmar said and remained
friends afterward. The two had spoken as recently as the day before the
assault, and the conversation had been cordial, he said.
Police gave this account of the
attack:
Frazier smashed in the sliding
glass door of the woman’s apartment about 3 a.m., while she was sleeping.
Frazier then sprayed her in the face with law enforcement-grade pepper spray,
temporarily blinding her.
He tackled the woman and
repeatedly beat her face into the floor as he pulled her hair. The woman fought
back and was able to rip a necklace off Frazier, but he overpowered her and
raped her.
Frazier then forced her to go
downstairs where he sexually assaulted her a second time on a futon in the
living room. While Frazier was going through her dresser drawers, the woman
called 911. When Frazier heard her on the phone, he fled the scene.
Photographs of Frazier were
located on social media that showed him wearing the necklace left behind at the
apartment. The pepper spray, which also was left behind, matched the make and
model of the spray Frazier was issued as a reserve officer, police said.
DNA evidence from the victim,
pepper spray can, necklace and bedding matched Frazier’s DNA, according to
court documents.
Lohmar said although police
suspected Frazier early on in the investigation, the victim initially didn’t
think the attacker was Frazier because for much of the 45-minute attack, she
couldn’t see clearly because of the pepper spray. In addition, Frazier
apparently disguised his voice, Lohmar said.
Though police were able to
gather significant DNA evidence, they did not have Frazier’s DNA for comparison
until just recently, Lohmar said.
Frazier’s bail is set at
$200,000 cash only.
Kim Bell of the Post-Dispatch
contributed information to this report.