LOCAL : Ex-Beverly Hills Policeman Is Suspect in Girl’s Rape

A suspect in the rape of an 11-year-old Irvine girl has been identified as a fired Beverly Hills police officer who may have used his police training to stalk his victim and gain entry to her home when she was alone, prosecutors said today.

Steven Rush McCoy, 36, is being held on $250,000 bail in Orange County Jail on six felony counts that include rape, sexual assault and burglary, authorities said. He will be arraigned April 6.

The girl was home alone when McCoy, posing as a deliveryman, persuaded her to open the door, police said. Investigators said the girl called 911 after the attack and later picked McCoy out of a photo lineup.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ariadne J. Symons, who prosecutes sex crimes, called the case particularly horrific.

“This is far more frightening than your average rape,” she said. “This man obviously stalked the child, chose her for whatever reason to be his victim, waited for her to be alone and planned the crime in what he thought would be the most undetectable way.”

In executing a search warrant against McCoy and arresting him just hours after the Monday afternoon attack, police said they found physical evidence connecting the rape to McCoy, who worked for the Beverly Hills department for two years until he was fired in 1978 for unspecified reasons.

Police said they found clothing belonging to McCoy and the victim, and well as a stained sheet believed to have been taken from the scene. Found at the crime scene were a knife that McCoy’s roommate said belonged to the suspect and a package believed to have been used as a ruse by McCoy to convince his victim that he was a deliveryman, police said.

Officers also found at McCoy’s residence a book entitled “How to Assert an Insanity Defense.”