March 10th, 2020 by WCBC Radio

On Thursday morning, 03/05/2020, at approximately 4:05 AM, an on-duty Cumberland Police officer was contacted by a female victim, who advised him that she had been stopped while driving earlier that evening on Rt. 220 south, in the vicinity of Black Oak Bottom and High Rock, by what she believed was a police officer, and then sexually assaulted by that individual. The Allegany County Combined Criminal Investigation Unit (C3I) was contacted, and Investigators responded to assist in the investigation.

 

            During the interview with Investigators the victim described the vehicle that stopped her as a dark colored, unmarked SUV, with grill lights and dash lights. She provided a description of the male suspect, indicating that he was either a police officer, or possibly a police impersonator. According to the victim, the suspect was wearing a dark colored BDU type uniform and a duty belt, with a handgun, and related police type equipment on it.

 

            According to the victim, the suspect, who never removed the gun from it's holster, or threatened her with it, ordered her to exit her vehicle and come around to the side of the vehicles, furthest from travel lane of the roadway. According to the victim, at that time the suspect attacked her and sexually assaulted her before fleeing the scene, travelling north on Rt. 220 toward Cumberland.

 

            C3I Investigators interviewed numerous witnesses and potential witnesses, and began the search for surveillance video to assist in the investigation. Investigators were able to track the victim's path of travel from the time she left the location she had been at that evening until her contact with the Cumberland Police. The information Investigators obtained revealed numerous discrepancies in the victim's account of the incident.

 

            This new evidence, and the victim's own statements made when confronted with this information, confirmed that the incident had not occurred.

 

            As a result, 25 year old Clarissa Janelle Poole, of Ridgeley, WV, was charged with Making a False Statement to an Officer, causing an investigation to be initiated. Poole was charged via a criminal summons issued by the District Court Commissioner's Office, and is free, pending her next court appearance.