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14-year-old tied to 8 sexual assaults
Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 11/16/2005 | Thomas J. Gibbons Jr.

Posted on 11/16/2005 6:45:29 PM PST by wjersey

A 14-year-old youth has been charged in eight sexual assaults across the city dating back to early summer - a string of attacks that occurred months after he was arrested in early spring on a similar charge and then released.

While declining to call the teen a serial rapist, Capt. John Darby, commander of the Special Victims Unit, expressed amazement at the scope of the crimes.

In an interview this afternoon, Darby said, "Obviously, the number of cases is extraordinary when you're talking about a 14-year-old."

The youth, whose name was not released because of his age, has been in custody since Oct. 26 when he was charged with six of the attacks. On Monday, he was charged with two more, and although the investigation continues, investigators said they do not believe the number will increase.

The teen was first arrested March 27 on a complaint that he sexually assaulted a female in the 5700 block of Arch Street. The assault was described as an indecent touch, police said.

Then the string of attacks began in earnest.

According to Darby, the attacks to which the youth has been linked began Aug. 19 at Upsal and Emlen Streets in West Mt. Airy. There at about 1 p.m., a 32-year-old woman was approached by a youth who asked for directions. He then grabbed and fondled her, but she fought him off and he fled.

On the same day at 10:20 p.m., a 21-year-old woman was aproached by a youth in the 4700 block of North Broad Street in Logan and offered money for sex. The youth then choked and raped her, police said.

On Aug. 26 at about 10 p.m. in the 200 block of West Abbottsford Avenue in East Falls, a 19-year-old woman was approached by a youth who asked for directions. The youth then grabbed her, choked her and fondled her, and fled when she began to struggle.

The next attack was Aug. 27 at 8 p.m. in the 1200 block of Lindley Avenue. A 19-year-old woman was grabbed from behind, pulled into an alley, and choked and fondled. The youth fled when a passerby walked by.

Four blocks away in the 1100 block of Loudon Street, at about 4 p.m. Sept. 13 a 16-year-old girl was grabbed from behind, pulled into an alley and raped.

The attack occurred Sept. 28, at 11:30 a.m. in the 100 block of West Duncannon Avenue outside Olney High School. There, a 17-year-old female was followed by a youth who first made lewd comments and then fondled her before escaping.

Darby said investigators were able to develop the 14-year-old as a suspect in the attacks on Aug. 19 and Sept. 13 because of descriptions that the assailant had acne. Through physical evidence and interviews, he was linked to the other four.

After his arrest Oct. 26, the teen was linked to two more attacks that resulted in additional sexual assault charges filed Monday.

Those attacks occurred about noon July 5 in the 4400 block of Holden Street in West Philadelphia, in which a 21 year-old woman was approached by a youth who choked her, pulled her into a weeded area and raped her; and at about 9 p.m. July 17 in the 1300 block of West Roosevelt Boulevard in Hunting Park, where a 19-year-old woman waiting for a bus was attacked by a youth who threw her to the ground and raped her.

According to court records, the teen is being held at the Youth Study Center awaiting further court action, including a move by the District Attorney's Office to try him as an adult. Court records show that the teen's release in March came over objections by the District Attorney's Office.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: 14yearold; filthydelphia; philadelphia; philly; sexualassault; teenperp

1 posted on 11/16/2005 6:45:29 PM PST by wjersey
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To: wjersey

Now where would a 14 year old get ideas like this???


2 posted on 11/16/2005 6:47:29 PM PST by mlc9852
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To: wjersey

Well if Bill Clinton isn't a serial rapist, then I guess I can understand why the police would hesitate to call this kid one.

Put some ice on that.


3 posted on 11/16/2005 6:48:46 PM PST by weegee (To understand the left is to rationalize how abortion can be a birthright.)
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To: wjersey

no need to worry, he'll have access to the porn channels in prison.. when he gets there four years from now.


4 posted on 11/16/2005 6:49:04 PM PST by acapesket (never had a vote count in all my years here)
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To: wjersey
The youth, whose name was not released because of his age, has been in custody since Oct. 26

So conceivably we could wind up with a registered sex offender who's name cannot be divulged.

5 posted on 11/16/2005 6:51:08 PM PST by weegee (To understand the left is to rationalize how abortion can be a birthright.)
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To: wjersey
whose name was not released because of his age

Should this policy be changed?

6 posted on 11/16/2005 6:51:42 PM PST by LurkedLongEnough
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To: acapesket

I guess he's in school right now:

"According to court records, the teen is being held at the Youth Study Center awaiting further court action"

Enough damn doublespeak.


7 posted on 11/16/2005 6:52:13 PM PST by weegee (To understand the left is to rationalize how abortion can be a birthright.)
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To: wjersey

Well, at this rate he may have a brilliant future ahead of him in Democrat Party politics.


8 posted on 11/16/2005 6:53:06 PM PST by Wilhelm Tell (True or False? This is not a tag line.)
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To: wjersey
Drastic times call for drastic measures, maybe if society wasn't soft on first time offenders, there wouldn't be as many repeat offenders.


9 posted on 11/16/2005 7:03:57 PM PST by infidel29 ("We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid." --Benjamin Franklin)
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To: infidel29

Give him a fair trial and then hang him.


10 posted on 11/16/2005 7:08:44 PM PST by Concho
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To: wjersey
While declining to call the teen a serial rapist ...

We'll just call him a violent 14-year-old sex maniac.

11 posted on 11/16/2005 7:09:43 PM PST by manwiththehands
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To: Concho

Let him go.

Dress me up as a 16 year old and send me to Philly.


12 posted on 11/16/2005 7:12:32 PM PST by Candor7 (Into Liberal Flatulence Goes the Hope of the West)
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To: mlc9852

Where would he get such ideas? He wouldn't happen to listen to Hip-Hop "music", would he?


13 posted on 11/16/2005 7:15:38 PM PST by Palladin (There ain't nobody here but us chickens. (Senate Dems Theme Song))
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To: Concho

Save the money of a trial and shoot him in the face.


14 posted on 11/16/2005 7:23:45 PM PST by steel_resolve
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To: manwiththehands

Kids are going to be sexually active. We "might as well" face it. So the mantra goes.


15 posted on 11/16/2005 7:43:42 PM PST by weegee (To understand the left is to rationalize how abortion can be a birthright.)
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To: steel_resolve

The face? I can think of a better place!


16 posted on 11/16/2005 7:47:32 PM PST by republican4ever
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To: wjersey
On the heroine-Philly-Kindergartener story I posted this bit: "Philly has degraded into a large ghetto, a concrete and steel plantation known as a Democrat Utopia."
17 posted on 11/16/2005 7:55:26 PM PST by newzjunkey ("People for the Al Queda Way" support the Democrat Plan to end the war!)
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To: infidel29
Down here on the farm we use a knife
18 posted on 11/16/2005 8:04:49 PM PST by org.whodat
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To: weegee
"According to court records, the teen is being held at the Youth Study Center awaiting further court action"

I read Youth study center as the "audie home".

19 posted on 11/16/2005 8:24:59 PM PST by sharkhawk (Play me a dirge matey)
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To: infidel29
You forgot to include the prep tool.


20 posted on 11/16/2005 10:54:02 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Islam: a Satanically Transmitted Disease, spread by unprotected intimate contact with the Koranus.)
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