S. Philly man charged in sex-assaults

Raheem Felder, 32, of Chadwick Street near Wharton, was charged Thursday with rape, aggravated assault, burglary, robbery, false imprisonment and related offenses for attacking a woman in her Point Breeze home on Rosewood Street near Moore, just before dawn on Memorial Day.

Felder had been in police custody since May 29, when an warrant was issued for his arrest for violating his parole in an unrelated case, sources said at the time.

He had surrendered to police with his lawyer, but refused to give a statement, sources said. Through investigation, detectives were able to link him to the sex assaults and bring those charges against him.

An anonymous tipster identified Felder and alerted police after seeing surveillance video police had released to news media of the suspected attacker walking near Rosewood Street. In that case, a 35-year-old woman awoke to find a man standing over her bed. He put his hand over her mouth, demanded money, sexually assaulted her and then fled with $10 in stolen cash, the victim's car and house keys and her identification. Police later recovered the car nearby.

Court records show he is a violent offender sentenced to eight- to 17 years in prison in 2002 for a May 2001 attempted murder case. Susan McNaughton, a state Department of Corrections spokeswoman, said Felder was paroled to the Kintock Center in North Philadelphia in November 2013. A state Board of Probation and Parole spokeswoman didn't immediately have details on when he finished his Kintock stay.

Felder faces a July 10 status hearing on the rape cases, court records show.