Police nab alleged rapist in less than four hours

A 22-year-old man is behind bars for allegedly sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl Thursday afternoon in an abandoned building in the city’s Fairhill section.

Police said Marcise Turner, of the 2000 block of East Huntingdon Street, grabbed the girl just before 3 p.m. as she walked unaccompanied to a corner store at E Street and Ontario. The girl came home shortly afterward and told her mother she had been abducted and sexually assaulted, according to police.

Authorities released a surveillance image of the suspect to the media at 6:10 p.m., and within 10 minutes a caller told police where the suspect lived. Turner was taken into custody Thursday night for questioning and later charged with sexual assault and related offenses.

Police called the case a “shining example” of what can happen when community members stand up and cooperate with police. “A dangerous criminal commits an unspeakable crime at 3pm and is brought to justice before the end of the evening news,” said a statement from the department.

Last month, police announced they had received one million hits on the department’s YouTube channel, which have led to arrests in more than 100 cases.