Authorities have arrested a man allegedly involved in a pair of gunpoint rapes that occurred last weekend in Kingsessing.
Prosecutors have approved charges against 30-year-old Michael Henry in connection with one of the sexual assaults, while investigators continue to gather evidence in the other case, a Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson said Sunday.
Henry is also a suspect is several other rapes and one robbery, police said Monday. Detectives are verifying DNA evidence and conducting photo arrays before submitting charges, according to the PPD.
Detectives distributed surveillance video and images of the suspect in the Kingsessing attacks last week, and police said that footage, along with tips from the public, helped authorities identify Henry.
A woman told investigators she was walking at around 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15, on the 5100 block of Springfield Avenue when a man came up behind her, pointed a gun at her side and demanded money, according to police.
After she gave him $25 and some prescription medication, he forced her into an alley behind the 1100 block of S. Paxon Street and raped her, authorities said.
The day before, at around 3 a.m., a woman was stopped at a traffic light at 55th Street and Kingsessing Avenue when a man approached her car and pointed a gun at her, investigators said.
He demanded cash, and she gave him $20, according to authorities. The suspect ordered her to unlock her car so he could get in, and then told her to drive to 49th and St. Bernard streets, where he sexually assaulted her, police said.
Investigators said he drove her to an ATM following the attack and forced her to withdraw $120. He fled the scene after grabbing the money.
“Based on the M.O., physical description and geographical location, we believe that they were likely committed by the same offender,” PPD Special Victims Unit Captain Margo Alleyne-Parker told reporters at a news briefing Tuesday, Oct. 17.
Henry, who was apprehended Saturday, was charged Sunday with aggravated assault, rape, robbery, kidnapping, firearm violations and a host of other offenses in connection with the Oct. 14 assault, according to court records.
His bail was set at $2 million, of which he must post 10% to be released. Court documents indicate that Henry was on probation when the alleged rapes occurred, having pleaded guilty last year to making terroristic threat in a Delaware County case.
