NBCPhiladelphia.com - Denise Nakano, Brad Berner
Philadelphia Police arrested an 18-year-old accused of raping a woman at gunpoint in Southwest Philadelphia. According to police sources, they're now searching for his accomplice, a 13-year-old girl.
A 18-year-old girl is in police custody following an alleged robbery and rape in Southwest Philadelphia. An 18-year-old boy was arrested a day earlier for the crime.
The teen boy reportedly confessed to robbing a man and his girlfriend as they walked down the 4700 block of Springfield Avenue, then raping the woman while her boyfriend watched, police sources told NBC Philadelphia’s Denise Nakano.
The incident happened around 10 p.m. on Tuesday.
The 18-year-old girl was originally thought to be a young boy by the victims, and later police mistakenly said she was a 13-year-old girl.
The male victim, however, believes the girl tried to prevent the sexual assault.
“He was pleading with him right there,” said the victim, who initially thought the young woman was a boy. “He was 10 feet from him. He says, “Come on, we got everything we wanted. Let’s go.”
The boyfriend (who asked not to be identified) told NBC Philadelphia that he was forced to watch his girlfriend get sexually assault.
"She kept begging that she needed me, so that’s why I just tried to follow what he said, get through this and get away."
The victim said that it seemed the older assailant had done this before.
“He’s a professional, he's crossing his T’s and dotting his I’s. He knew what to check for and he knew how to control the situation.”
Turns out he possibly did. The teen confessed not only to the most recent attack, but also two other robberies and a burglary that happened in the same area over the past few weeks, sources said.
One of those other robberies happened recently at 48th and Chester where the boy allegedly tried to force a couple into a back alley, according to sources.
The young man is being charged with 19 counts in connection with the crime including rape, robbery and kidnapping. Authorities didn’t release his name as they were investigating him for other crimes.
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