A State College man was arrested Monday on charges that he raped, strangled and robbed a woman at a Ferguson Township motel.
Township police responded at about 2:45 a.m. Monday to the Nittany Budget Motel, where the woman said a man later identified as Robert C. Wason, 38, falsely claimed to be a police officer, raped her and tried to suffocate her with a pillow, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
The woman told police that Wason responded to her online advertisement for bachelor parties and private dances and told her to request a room at the motel that would be away from the other guests. After she gave him a lap dance, Wason told her that he was police and handcuffed her, then raped her, according to the affidavit.
She alleged that during the assault, Wason put a pillow over face in an attempt to suffocate her and that she bit his hands. The woman told police she was able to get one hand free and began punching him, then was able to get to the door and leave, running and yelling for help.
Wason fled the scene with the woman’s purse, which contained her cell phone, and the phone was recovered nearby, police wrote. The woman had red marks and swelling around her wrists, consistent with struggling to free herself from the handcuffs, as well as scrapes and cuts, according to the affidavit.
An investigation identified Wason as the suspect and after learning officers were looking for him, he asked to speak with a detective to “clear things up,” police wrote.
Wason told police that he arranged to meet the woman, paid her for the hotel room and had consensual sex with her, according to the complaint. He claimed the woman started doing drugs, at which point he decided to leave and took back the money he gave her for the room. He alleged she began hitting and biting him and claimed he defended himself by holding her down on the bed. He put the the pillow over her face, he told police, because he didn’t want to bother people in other rooms, according to the affidavit.
He denied claiming that he was a police officer, using handcuffs and disposing of her cell phone, police wrote.
A search of his vehicle found handcuffs that appeared to have blood residue on them and a search of his residence yielded a badge from a private security firm, according to the affidavit.
Wason is charged with felony counts of rape, sexual assault, aggravated assault, strangulation and robbery and misdemeanor counts of simple assault, false imprisonment and impersonating a public servant.
He was arraigned on Tuesday morning by District Judge Don Hahn and was unable to post $135,000 bail.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 9.
