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A door-to-door magazine salesman was arrested Monday for allegedly sexually assaulting an American Fork woman in her home.
Police say Brian James Mask of St. Louis works for an Illinois-based magazine subscription company. The man has been in Utah for two days, staying in a motel in Sandy with other salesmen from the company. American Fork Police Chief Lance Call said Mask was selling subscriptions along the 900 block of 100 East when he came to the home of a 58-year-old woman living alone.
The woman allowed Mask into her home to give his sales pitch, after which she asked him to leave. Call said Mask then became angry and physically and sexually assaulted the woman.
According to a police affidavit, Mask choked and punched the woman in the face during the attack, knocking her unconscious. The severe facial trauma required multiple stitches, and police believe Mask left the woman for dead.
Call described Mask as 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighing 275 pounds, while the woman stands at 5 feet, 4 inches tall and 125 pounds.
"That is significant," Call said.
After the attack, Mask fled from the home and the woman called police. Call said the police department was able to put out a description of the suspect in an attempt to locate him because the woman gave a good description of his features.
"She was very courageous," he said. "She's a real survivor."
Soon after police sent out a bulletin to locate Mask, he was seen by Lehi police boarding an express bus to Salt Lake City. Lehi police stopped the bus and arrested Mask, who has been charged with aggravated assault and aggravated sexual assault. Call said Mask was found due to good police work by Lehi police, and he may have gotten away for good had they not seen him on the bus.
"Unless he's in the DNA file with the FBI, we never would have tracked him down if they hadn't caught him," he said.
Lehi police Sgt. Jeff Swenson said Mask was spotted by a police officer at the 100 E. State St. bus stop. However, the police officer was stuck in traffic. Mask was on the bus by the time the officers he called for help made it to the scene. Officers pulled the bus over at 500 W. State St. and took Mask off the bus, at which point Swenson said the man was positively identified by physical evidence. Swenson said the man had a notebook with him that tied him to the scene and he was also identified by a tattoo on his right forearm and other evidence.
"He had some bloody knuckles consistent with assault," he said. According to police reports, Mask admitted beating the woman, but claimed no sexual assault took place. He also claims to be a member of a Chicago gang, and bail has been set at $200,000 due to flight risk.
"It should have been much higher," Call said.
Call said Mask did not have a license to sell subscriptions in Sandy or American Fork. The city has had strong licensing requirements since 1988, when a 19-year-old woman was raped by a cleaning-supply salesman from Chicago. Police believe Mask was in the neighborhood to actually sell magazines, and he made contact with several other residents in the area. Mask was not forthcoming about who he was working for, and investigators are still trying to determine which company he was with.
Call said the man's sales pitch was unorthodox, but only suspicious to residents in hindsight. Residents should not allow people they do not know into their homes, and they should always be sure salesmen have the right to sell in the area, he said.
"The person contacted by these solicitors has the right to ask for their permit," he said. |
