Coon Rapids sex assault suspect seen again near girl's house

Updated: September 1, 2010 - 11:49 PM

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Law enforcement officials scoured a Coon Rapids neighborhood Wednesday night after getting a report that the man who reportedly sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl in her home on Tuesday may have been back in the neighborhood.

Law enforcement officials, along with a helicopter, searched the area of Northdale Blvd. and the nearby railroad tracks after a witness told police that a man matching the suspect's description was in the neighborhood. The suspect fled on foot when confronted. Police halted the search late Wednesday.

Neighbors said the suspect was seen Wednesday looking in the window where the girl lives in the 11600 block of Unity St.

Police say the girl was home Tuesday with her teenage sibling, who was sleeping in another part of the home.

The girl told police the man knocked on the family's front door and told her he was conducting a survey. She said he asked her who else was home and then told her not to wake the teen. The girl told police the man sexually assaulted her until she began to cry. Police said the girl's sibling woke up and the man fled on foot. The teenager didn't get a look at the stranger.

The suspect is described as a white male in his 40s with a light- to orange-colored beard, short hair and a receding hairline. He's described as being about 5-foot-8 and weighing 150 to 200 pounds. He was said to have "scruffy appearance."

MARY LYNN SMITH