A 75-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in her 4S Ranch home Thursday morning, and a suspect — a stranger to the victim — was arrested hours later, a San Diego County Sheriffs sergeant said.

About 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, a man knocked on the door of her Carmel Valley Road home and asked the woman if her dogs might need to be washed. The dogs were in front yard of the property, Sgt. Marcello Orsini said Friday.

The two began talking, and the man was eventually invited into the home, Orsini said in a news release.

Once inside the residence, the stranger sexually assaulted the victim. The womans caretaker, who also was inside the home, interrupted the assault, Orsini said. The man jumped into a car and fled.

Sheriffs Deputies from the 4S Ranch Sheriffs Substation and the Sheriffs Fraud/Elder Abuse Unit investigated. They identified a suspect through the vehicle the assailant drove off in, as well as through a photo line-up.

Less than eight hours later, deputies contacted the suspect, a 52-year-old man, as he arrived home in Solana Beach. Orsini said the man was driving the same car the assailant used to flee the incident.

The suspect was booked into the Vista Detention Facility on suspicion of sexual assault and elder abuse.