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Police solve bizarre Web case
Woman accused of soliciting online for rape of an acquaintance
Saturday, October 23, 2004

She went by the online handle "cocaine kitty2003," police said, and with graphic language invited men to come to her house and rape her.

But cocaine kitty2003 wasn't who she claimed to be and the house she was inviting men to was someone else's. Police yesterday charged Tracie Grimm, 29, of Normalville in Fayette County, with soliciting men online to rape a longtime acquaintance -- a 58-year-old Fayette County woman.

"It's a weird one," Trooper Thomas Broadwater of the Uniontown barracks said yesterday. "Our accused, she is totally obsessed with our victim."

In a bizarre case solved by Caller ID and a state trooper posing as a sex-hungry man desiring a rendezvous with cocaine kitty2003, Grimm was arrested Thursday.

Police said by the time she was taken into custody, Grimm had chatted with more than 200 men online about having sex with the unknowing victim, of which about 50 contacted her. At least five men actually showed up at the victim's door, though she didn't let any in.

Broadwater was at a loss to explain the motive behind Grimm's alleged behavior other than to say she considered the victim a mother figure and wanted to be close friends. The victim, for her part, did not want to give Grimm the time of day.

The two met about 10 years ago when the older woman owned a pizza parlor and Grimm would stop in, Broadwater said. That was about the extent of their relationship -- except for the stalking.

Broadwater said Grimm was arrested and convicted a few years ago in Westmoreland County for writing, calling and dropping in on the woman enough times to rise to criminal activity. The harassment stopped for a while.

"But as soon as she got off probation, this all started up again," Broadwater said.

On Sept. 22, the victim told state police that unknown men had been dropping by and that she had been called by roughly 50 men at all hours. The men told her she had talked with them on a Web site.

Broadwater said the case broke when one of the men called to find out why she didn't open the door for him. The married man's name appeared on Caller ID, and Broadwater contacted the man at home in Normalville.

He told police he thought the victim had invited him over when she conversed with him online as cocaine kitty2003.

It was time for Broadwater to meet cocaine kitty2003. Posing as both tarheels7097 (Broadwater admitted to being a University of North Carolina fan) and t120 gunner (which he made up on the spur of the moment), Broadwater entered the Web site and chatted with cocaine kitty2003.

During their conversations, Grimm gave directions to the victim's house and directed Broadwater to "rip her clothes off and rape her, and to continue with the act even if she says no," according to a police affidavit.

After a laborious investigation involving search warrants, Broadwater traced the computer to Grimm's home on Cramer Road in Normalville.

Grimm confessed, the affidavit said, and told police "she is upset at [the victim], due to [the victim] severing ties with her. She stated that she does not understand why [the victim] won't talk to her. She stated that she only wants to be friends ... and looks upon her as a mother figure."

Grimm was charged with criminal solicitation to commit rape, identity theft, stalking, recklessly endangering another person and criminal use of a communication facility. She was held in the Fayette County Prison on $50,000 bond.

First published on October 23, 2004 at 12:00 am
Jonathan D. Silver can be reached at jsilver@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1962.
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