3 rapes reported in 2 days

A female University of Pennsylvania student is among three women who were raped in the city in the past several days, police said yesterday.

The 20-something victim told police that she was attacked at about 2 a.m. Saturday while she was at a party inside a fraternity house on the 3500 block of Locust Walk, the university's main pedestrian thoroughfare, said police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore.

A source identified the fraternity house as that of Phi Kappa Sigma.

According to Vanore, Philadelphia police became involved after the victim sought treatment at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania later on Saturday.

Investigators from the police Special Victims Unit have interviewed a number of people who attended the party in an attempt to build an accurate description of the assailant, Vanore said.

In a statement addressing the incident, university officials wrote in part: "The university takes this matter very seriously and is cooperating fully with the Philadelphia police investigation.

"The university is offering support services to our student. Police have indicated that the situation poses no obvious danger to other members of the university community."

Several hours before the Penn student was attacked, a teenager was raped inside her East Mount Airy home, police said.

The 15-year-old victim was home alone at about 11:30 p.m. Friday when she heard a noise on the first floor of her house on Blakemore Street near Montana, said Lt. Tom McDevitt, of the Special Victims Unit.

When the girl ventured downstairs to investigate the noise, a man who entered through the front door reached out, grabbed her and forced her to a sofa where he raped her, McDevitt said.

The living room was dark, so the victim was unable to focus on the features of her attacker, McDevitt said.

About 12:30 a.m. Friday, a 21-year-old woman was confronted by three men on Duval Street near Chew Avenue, in East Germantown, after she left a friend's house.

The woman tried to ignore the men, McDevitt said, but they forced her into a nearby alley at knifepoint. Two of the thugs then raped her.

The victim told police that one attacker was a thin, 5-foot-7 black man in his late 20s with braids and a beard. He wore black pants, a white T-shirt and Timberland boots.

Police said that the second man was a light-complected, 5-foot-8 black man in his 20s. He had a beard, mustache and sideburns, and wore cargo pants and Timberland boots.

The third assailant was a light-complected black man in his mid-20s, who had a beard, mustache, braids and a black and white Dickies shirt.

Tipsters can contact SVU at 215-685-3251.