SPOKANE VALLEY — A jury convicted a 33-year-old man last week of impersonating an officer before robbing, kidnapping and raping a woman last year in Spokane County.
According to court documents, Warren J. Pittman on April 18, 2021, followed the victim into and out of a gas station at Perry Street and Illinois Avenue trying to talk to her.
The victim said in the documents Pittman then lifted his shirt, displayed a black semiautomatic pistol and told her he was a cop but could not show his badge because he was undercover.
She said Pittman broke her phone and threw it in the grass, then stole her gun. He then made her get in the passenger seat of her black Ford Fusion and made her put body armor on that Pittman removed from his red Dodge Charger, documents said.
They said Pittman drove the victim to the Ramada Inn in Spokane Valley, according to court records. She said she realized Pittman likely wasn’t a cop, but she was afraid to leave because Pittman had guns.
He tied the victim up with a belt before telling her about times he tortured people, documents said. She said Pittman took photos of her while tied up, threatened to kill her grandmother and sexually assaulted her.
She hid a note for housekeeping employees saying she had been kidnapped and needed help, according to court records.
Pittman then drove the victim in her car to the Shangri-La Motel in Spokane when Pittman got a call from a police officer, who obtained the note, documents said. Pittman handed the victim the phone, took the guns, got out of the car and walked to the north side of the motel, she said.
The victim told the officer on the phone that she needed help immediately. She and Pittman stayed there until police arrived.
Authorities found a black ballistic vest in the victim’s vehicle, which Pittman was driving.
They also found two stolen semiautomatic pistols in the bushes near the Shangri-La Motel, court records said.
Pittman was arrested and booked into the Spokane County Jail, and posted bond April 22, 2021.
He was arrested again in January near the Mexico border in Texas related to the charges he committed against the victim in Spokane County, according to a Spokane County Sheriff’s Office news release. Spokane Regional Safe Streets Task Force investigators verified Pittman crossed the border into Mexico, the release said.
Pittman was convicted of first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree robbery, second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission, impersonating a police officer and third-degree malicious mischief. Pittman, who remains in jail, is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 2 in front of Spokane County Superior Court Judge Annette Plese.
