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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
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Police Say They Arrested Wrong Man in Forest Park Stun Gun Sex Attack

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | April 5, 2013 8:58am | Updated on April 5, 2013 10:18am
 A police sketch of a man suspected of sexually assaulting a woman March 29 in Forest Hills Park that police released on March 31, 2013.
A police sketch of a man suspected of sexually assaulting a woman March 29 in Forest Hills Park that police released on March 31, 2013.
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NYPD

QUEENS — Police said Thursday they had arrested the wrong man in a stun gun sex assault in Forest Park last week. But cops charged the man with an unrelated sex assault from earlier this week.

Richard Kassebaum, 42, of Lindenwood, Queens, was arrested Tuesday for allegedly attacking a female jogger while she was running in the park on March 29 about 7:25 p.m.

The 23-year-old victim was out for a run inside the park when the man grabbed her from behind, shocked her with a stun gun and sexually assaulted her, cops said.

But on Thursday the police said Kassebaum was not the man they were looking for and the arrest was voided, cops said.

In the course of the investigation, however, police matched Kassebaum to another sexual assault, police said.

That incident occured on Sunday, March 31, at 4:45 a.m. near a laudromat on Woodhaven Boulevard and 86th Avenue in Woodhaven, only two blocks away from Forest Park.

Kassebaum, who worked at the laundromat according to sources familiar with the case, went outside and waited for the victim to finish doing her laundry.

He followed her along Woodhaven Boulevard and then along 86th Road where he allegedly grabbed her from behind, placed his arm around her neck and started choking her, according to the criminal complaint.

After the victim fell, the attacker touched her buttocks and then ran away, the complaint said.

Afterwards, he returned to the laundromat, the complaint said.

Kassebaum was charged with sexual abuse and forcible touching.