Anchorage police have arrested Dwight Samuel O’Connor, a former member of the city’s Public Safety Advisory Commission, for allegedly raping a woman near a Mountain View mall Thursday morning.
APD spokesperson Lt. Dave Parker says officers received a report of a sexual assault at about 5:15 a.m. from a 51-year-old woman, who said she had been walking near the Northway Mall when an unknown man had offered her a ride. Instead of taking her home, the man drove her to a nearby worksite, took her into a trailer there and forcibly raped her.
Afterward she was driven out of the area and released, at which point she immediately reported the assault.
APD Special Victims Unit detectives conducted an investigation, and had identified O’Connor as a suspect by Thursday afternoon. He was contacted and questioned at police headquarters, and a search warrant was served on him.
Detectives arrested O’Connor on one count of first-degree sexual assault. He is being held at the Anchorage Jail without bail, and was arraigned Friday afternoon.
O’Connor served on the Anchorage Public Safety Advisory Commission since 2000, and was a member of the Westside Community Patrol since 1995.
A biography page on the advisory commission’s website says he has lived in Anchorage since 1959 and has been involved in crime-prevention efforts since 1977.
Editor's note: This story has been revised to state that O'Connor is no longer a member of the Public Safety Advisory Commission.
