West Des Moines Police Investigate Two Alleged Rape Cases

West Des Moines Police are investigating two allegations of rape, according to reports released this week.

On March 7, Officer Scott Davis was called to Mercy Medical Center by Tammy Gilmore, an advocate with Polk County Crisis and Advocacy, after a 20-year-old Des Moines woman alleged she had been assaulted while she was sleeping at a friend’s apartment.

It is Patch’s policy to not report the names of alleged victims of sexual assault.

According to Davis’ report, the woman told police she awoke to a light on in the room and felt the suspect, who was also staying in the apartment and whose identity she provided to victims, put his hands in her pants.

She told authorities that she pretended to be asleep “in hopes that he would stop and was fearful of making the incident worse.” The man then allegedly had intercourse with the woman and then warned the woman not to say anything to her friend “because he would be mad that this occurred in his bed,” according to the police report.

Also on March 7, police took a report of forcible rape from a 17-year-old female who said she had been raped between 1 and 5 a.m. by a 20-year-old at an undisclosed West Des Moines location.

According to Officer Blaine Brinkmeyer’s report, the alleged victim had been drinking, but the suspect had not.

According to police, the two reports are not related.