Man who worked at Microsoft faces 20-26 years in prison for rape, criminal impersonation

A 27-year-old Bellevue man who worked at Microsoft faces 20 to 26 years in prison for impersonating a police officer to force a woman to have sex with him at an apartment in Redmond earlier this month.

On Tuesday, the King County prosecutor's office charged Sasidhar Vanapalli with first-degree rape and first-degree criminal impersonation for the incident, which occurred in Redmond on Oct. 17. He is being held at King County Jail on $500,000 bail.

Bellevue Police arrested the man early last week after he pulled a similar stunt in Bellevue on Oct. 3. Vanapalli faces first-degree extortion and first-degree criminal impersonation charges in the Bellevue case.

In the Redmond incident, Vanapalli was house sitting for a friend and co-worker at an apartment complex in the 8500 block of 148th Avenue on the night of Oct. 17, when he responded to a craiglist.com advertisement for a massage for a fee, according to Jim Bove, Redmond Police spokesperson. An 18-year-old woman from Mountlake Terrace agreed to meet Vanapalli at the Redmond apartment. She showed up sometime between 7:30 and 8 p.m., according to charging papers.

Once inside the apartment, Vanapalli pulled a gun from behind his back, pointed it at the woman and stated he was a police officer and that if she did not have sex with him, she would be arrested for prostitution. He pointed the gun at her head until she began having sex with him.

The woman asked Vanapalli to use a condom, but he refused and told her to "shut up," according to charging papers. During sex, he held her body down with both of his hands and the gun was within his reach near her head, charging papers said.

After sex, the man said he would not press charges against her and warned her he would find her if she told anybody about the incident.

The woman called the Redmond Police Department at 9:05 p.m. and reported the rape.

During their investigation, Redmond Police found out that Bellevue Police were investigating a similar case that occurred in Bellevue.

Bellevue Police were able to find the suspect and arrest him after a 19-year-old victim reported a Oct. 3 incident, which took place at Vanapalli's apartment in the 14400 block of Northeast 42nd Place in Bellevue.

The woman had advertised as an escort on craigslist.org. The suspect responded to the ad, and when they met in person he quickly displayed a badge and identification and told her he was a police officer, according to a press release from the Bellevue Police Department. Like the Redmond victim, Vanapalli said he would not arrest her and take her to jail if she had sex with him.

With information provided by the victim, investigators were able to locate the apartment and identify Vanapalli. Detectives arrested the suspect on Oct. 20 and executed a search warrant on the apartment. They found a badge – similar to a police badge – homemade fake police identification, handcuffs, and a BB gun that looked like a Beretta handgun.

Then on Oct. 21, the victim of the Redmond incident was able to identify Vanapalli from a photo montage, connecting the two cases.

Vanapalli, who "does not appear" to have any prior criminal history, worked at Microsoft, according to charging papers, which also said he has been in the country for one year and is not a U.S. citizen.

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