WEST PLAINS, Mo. -- Howell County Sheriff Robbie Crites says a man charged in Texas for impersonating a police officer is a "person of interest" -- but not the only one -- for two attacks on women last month by a fake cop near West Plains.  Crites says investigators interviewed Steven Harsch, and will try to interview him again in Fort Worth, but says Harsch had a solid alibi for the time of at least one of the two attacks in June.  Crites also said the car that Harsch was driving in Texas doesn't sound like the car that the two victims here described to detectives.

  Fort Worth police believe Harsch impersonated a police officer to try to get into a woman’s home last Friday.  About 1 a.m., police say, a woman was wakened by someone knocking on the front door of her home in north Fort Worth .  The woman partially opened the front door and saw a man wearing a dark blue uniform with what appeared to be a Fort Worth Police patch on the shirt sleeves.  She said he also showed her a badge.

   The woman said the man, who carried a flash light, appeared at first to be a police officer.  He told her he was responding to a request to check the welfare of people in the home and asked if anyone else was at home.

  The woman said the man tried to push open the door after the woman said she hadn't called for police.  Police say the woman noticed discrepancies in the uniform that the man wore and she decided he might not be a police officer.  The woman immediately slammed the door and called 911.

  Police said the man fled in an unmarked white Chevy “police style” Caprice 4-door.  Fort Worth police responded to the woman's call and made a report after searching the area.

  After interviewing the victim and obtaining a composite sketch of the man, detectives released a drawing to the public through news agencies.  On Saturday, detectives received a tip from the Crime Stoppers Hotline about a possible suspect.  Detectives worked that day and night developing leads from that tipster.

  About 4 a.m. Sunday, detectives arrested Harsch after the woman positively identified him as the man at her door.  Harsch is charged with impersonating a public servant.  Fort Worth police say Harsch lived near the woman after recently moving to Fort Worth from West Plains, although he's lived in Texas and was convicted there for indecent exposure and driving while intoxicated in the last few years. After moving to Howell County last fall, Harsch registered as a convicted sex offender for his crime in Texas, which was committed in 2001.

Howell County Sheriff's Department investigator Gary Lamb says investigators have interviewed between 50 and 70 people in the search for the man who attacked the women near West Plains.