A Chelsea woman was duped by the sickest of sex fiends – a thug who dressed as a fireman and lit a blaze outside her apartment so he could sexually attack her, police said yesterday.
The pervert forced his way into the woman’s West 24th Street apartment using the elaborate ruse, then knocked her out and subjected her to a 12-hour sex assault, which she believes was videotaped, sources said.
The victim – a beautiful 34-year-old fashion-magazine staffer – awakened the next morning wrapped in duct tape.
Police said the brazen attack began at about 6 p.m. on Halloween – a day that would have allowed him to masquerade unsuspected.
The pervert wore a fireman’s hat, coat and air mask, obscuring his face. He also carried a realistic badge, the victim told police.
He used a smoke bomb to start a small fire in a pile of trash inside the building.
Sources said he knocked on the unsuspecting woman’s door, and when she answered, she saw smoke in the hallway and a man wearing full firefighter gear.
He told her he needed to come inside to check her apartment for signs of fire. She told cops she was startled and opened the door a bit more to let him in.
He rushed in, bound her with duct tape and knocked her out using gas, possibly chloroform. She then lost track of time and wafted in and out of consciousness. The man apparently had a gun during the attack.
The woman told cops that she could remember only bits and pieces of the ordeal. She knows she was sexually assaulted, but does not remember if the man raped her during his stay. She believes she was videotaped at some point.
She said her attacker likely left at around 6:30 a.m. She freed herself and called 911 to report the attack.
While she was being attacked, real FDNY firefighters came and put out the small fire he started on the third floor. The blaze was so small, they did not search the building.
One resident said that he took it upon himself to go through the building trying to alert neighbors of the danger – but got no answer from the woman’s door.
“I banged on her door for five seconds,” said the good Samaritan. “I assumed she was out already. I feel terrible. I tried to evacuate people last night, and still someone got hurt.
“We heard a lot of commotion this morning. The police came by and then she came out screaming and crying.”
The victim was being examined at a hospital late last night.
The suspect was described as white, with dark curly hair. She told cops she did not know who he is, but police sources say they believe he knew her.
In a strange twist, building superintendent José Muñoz found the gas mask the man used in his ruse.
“I didn’t know what kind of mask it was, so I called the police and they said it was a gas mask,” said Muñoz. “They told me, ‘You know what? You got yourself a good mask.’ ”
So Muñoz kept the mask, which his 27-year-old son saw on the table later and wore out for Halloween night. When Muñoz realized what had happened the next morning, he turned the evidence over to detectives.
Additional reporting by Hasani Gittens