LAKEPORT – The Lakeport Police Department is investigating the alleged rape of a local woman.

Chief Kevin Burke said the department received a report from a local doctor's office on June 3 that a 39-year-old woman had been sexually assaulted.

The incident, he said, is alleged to have happened on May 28.

The victim was in the guest room of a friend's house in Lakeport when a male suspect who she knows allegedly forced himself on her, according to Burke.

The investigation is continuing, said Burke. No arrest has been made.

He said the city's last reported rape was about six months ago. That case remains under investigation, but is expected to go to the District Attorney's Office soon, Burke reported.

It's hard to estimate how long a case takes to complete, said Burke, because each case is different. The crimes also require time-consuming forensics analysis to be conducted before the case is handed over for prosecution.

Sexual assaults by strangers aren't common in Lakeport, he said. “What we usually see here in Lakeport is that they [the victim and perpetrator] are acquainted with each other.”

Lee Perales of Lake Family Resource Center's Rape Crisis Center said there are many types of rape – from sexually assaulting a person lacking mental capacity to date rape and assaults on people who are incapacitated through a substance.

Regarding forcible rapes such as that currently under investigation in Lakeport, Perales said statistics gathered from law enforcement show that in 2007 Lakeport had one forcible rape case reported and Clearlake had nine. She did not yet have 2007 statistics for the unincorporated areas of the county.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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