Connecticut Post Reports

MILFORD -- An Orange police officer was charged Friday with posing as his twin brother to trick a 25-year-old woman into having sex with him at his parents' Milford home last month.

Officer Jared Rohrig, 25, of Flax Mill Lane, has been on paid administrative leave from his job since July 23, pending the outcome of an internal investigation, said Orange Police Chief Robert Gagne.

The unnamed woman told police July 22 that she was sexually assaulted July 19 at the Rohrig home, where she went to meet Joe Rohrig, Jared's identical twin.

The woman had been having a sexual relationship with Joe Rohrig since March, and on July 19 she talked on the phone with someone she believed was him and agreed to meet at his house, according to a search warrant.

When she arrived, she got into the hot tub with the Rohrig brother she believed was Joe, began kissing him and agreed to go to an upstairs bedroom with him.

But as they were having sex, the warrant states, she noticed something missing: the cowboy tattoo on Joe's left buttocks was not there.

The woman "immediately began to cry and asked him where his tattoo went," the warrant states. "The male replied that he had never had a tattoo and told her that she must have hooked up with his brother who had a tattoo." The female victim realized at this point that this was not the person that she had previously had sexual relations with."

She told police that at that point she got out of bed and tried to leave, but the man "grabbed her arms and threw her on the bed, where she continued to cry," and he continued having sex with her, the warrant states.

When the woman told Jared Rohrig to get off her, he allegedly put a pillow over her face, and while it did not prevent her from breathing, she felt "scared and claustrophobic," according to the warrant.

Her attempts to push him off were unsuccessful "because he was too strong and she gave up," the warrant states.

Later, the man -- still claiming to be Joe Rohrig -- drove the woman home in Jared Rohrig's pickup truck, but could not find the way, even though Joe had previously visited there several times, she told police.

Jared Rohrig allegedly told the woman that his brother, Joe, who had a steady girlfriend, did not want to meet her that day, but "he told me to go for it."

She told police she later received a text message from Joe's cell phone, the same one Jared had allegedly used to speak with her earlier, and the message read: "I want to apologize for what my brother did last night. I had no idea what was going on until this morning."

Jared Rohrig, hired by the Orange Police Department on July 11, 2008, is still in the department's 18-month probationary period and is not a member of the police union, Gagne said.

Jared Rohrig surrendered to police Friday and posted $50,000 bond. He is to be arraigned on charges of first-degree sexual assault and criminal impersonation Sept. 8 in Milford Superior Court.

A telephone call to Rohrig's Milford lawyer, Thomas Lynch, was not immediately returned.

A graduate of Jonathan Law High School, Rohrig is the son of Joanne Rohrig, a Republican member of the Board of Education, and the family owns Lasses Restaurant and catering in Milford.

A separate investigation into anonymous allegations that adults served alcohol to minors at a July 12 graduation party at the Rohrig residence has determined those charges to be "unfounded," said Milford Police Chief Keith Mello.

There was no evidence substantiating the claims, Mello said, adding that investigation showed "the family went to significant steps" to avoid giving minors access to alcohol at the party.

"The female victim looked at the male and asked, 'When did you think I was going to find out? When I realized you didn't have a tattoo? When we didn't use Joe's car to drive home? Or when you didn't know how to get to my house because you've never been there?' " the warrant states.