Police: Beaten man's DNA a match in child's rape

Philadelphia police yesterday announced a DNA match linking Jose Carrasquillo to the June 1 rape of an 11-year-old Kensington girl on her way to school.

Police also said Carrasquillo, 26, would be charged with indecent assault for molesting a 16-year-old girl that morning, before the rape. He is expected to be charged today with numerous offenses related to both cases.

"A DNA link has been established. Unquestionably, we have the right offender," said Capt. John Darby of the Special Victims Unit.

Detectives are examining Carrasquillo's possible involvement in at least two other sexual assaults, he added. "These are ongoing investigations," Darby said. "It does not stop there."

Joe Szarka, Forensic Science Laboratory manager, said a DNA sample collected from the 11-year-old's underwear matched Carrasquillo, who had blood drawn during his interrogation.

Szarka said the chance that the sample came from somebody else is "one in sextillion" - 1 followed by 21 zeroes.

The DNA match was confirmed in a report completed yesterday by Amy Scheeler, a police forensic scientist.

The 11-year-old was attacked on the morning of June 1, shortly after she dropped off her sister at a day-care center and began walking along the 3300 block of Kensington Avenue.

The girl told police that her attacker said he had a gun and forced her to walk to the 2000 block of East Westmoreland Street, where he attacked her behind a house.

The attack was so severe that the girl was hospitalized at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children and required surgery.

Earlier, police had said they had recovered evidence at the scene that linked Carrasquillo to the crime but were waiting for DNA results to proceed with the case.

Carrasquillo was arrested June 2, hours after police identified him as "a person of interest" and distributed his name and mug shot to Kensington residents and the news media.

That day, he was spotted by neighborhood residents near Front and Clearfield Streets. They beat him into submission and held him until police arrived. Carrasquillo's pummeling by the mob resulted in his being hospitalized for a short while.

In the other June 1 case, Carrasquillo is alleged to have approached a 16-year-old girl who had stepped off a bus about 7 a.m. near Front and Dauphin Streets and was on her way to school.

Carrasquillo allegedly initiated a conversation with the teen and was walking with her when he assaulted her, Darby said.

He allegedly followed her to Kensington Creative and Performing Arts High School and tried to approach her again on school grounds, but fled, Darby said.

School video surveillance recorded Carrasquillo at the high school, and those tapes have been turned over to police, Darby said.

Carrasquillo has a history of drug charges and other offenses, according to court records, and at least 12 convictions. He has pleaded guilty to manufacturing drugs, driving under the influence, and simple assault.

In 2002, he was charged with attempted rape and aggravated assault, according to court records, but those charges were later withdrawn.

Carrasquillo, who has several addresses in Kensington and North Philadelphia, served five years in prison on drug charges, according to the Pennsylvania parole board, the maximum sentence possible.

Leo Dunn, spokesman for the board, said Carrasquillo was denied parole after serving the first two years of his sentence because he did not receive positive recommendations from his jail supervisors.