Fake officer calls, asks Idaho teen to disrobe

A man who calls women and asks them to stand naked at their windows to help police catch a Peeping Tom apparently struck in Post Falls just before Christmas.

The calls are fake. Police believe the caller is the peeper.

“We believe he is doing this for his own gratification,” Lt. Greg McLean of the Post Falls Police Department said Monday.

During the last two months, a male caller claiming to be a police officer has struck in Spokane, Coeur d’Alene and elsewhere in Kootenai County, law enforcement officials have said.

In each call, a woman is asked to disrobe and stand near a window to assist police.

McLean, a detective with Post Falls Police, said a 15-year-old girl called police last Thursday evening, saying she had just gotten a call from a man claiming to be a police officer and asking for her help.

The man apparently identified himself as a Post Falls police officer, told the girl that police were staking out a potential voyeur and asked for her help, which included disrobing.

The girl was alone in the house and told police the “officer” kept her on the phone for more than an hour as he described the stakeout and set the stage for his request.

McLean said police often call citizens by telephone but almost never ask people to participate in a stakeout, especially in a manner that could be uncomfortable or dangerous.

McLean recommended people ask the name and agency of any caller claiming to be a police officer and then call the agency to confirm the person’s identity.

“Just say, ‘I am going to verify this and I will call you back.’ We would rather see that than take a report like this one,” McLean said.

After hanging up, the resident can dial *57 to trace the call.

The number is then logged with the telephone company and available for police to retrieve.

McLean said Sgt. Dave Beck, another Post Falls detective, is checking with Coeur d’Alene police detectives to compare notes on the cases.