Slaying suspect could face Md. rape trial before extradition

John Gonce was on the run from Philadelphia police in a double-murder case this month, authorities say, when he persuaded his cousin to let him hide out at her townhouse in Owings Mills, a suburb of Baltimore.

Four days later, police say, he raped her 13-year-old daughter.

Gonce, 28, accused of killing two youths in Overbrook Park and leading a home invasion in Upper Darby over two days in July, now also faces rape charges in Maryland, Baltimore County police confirmed Thursday.

When Baltimore police tried to execute a warrant for his arrest from Upper Darby on Aug. 7, Gonce fled the home and hid in a trash can, before being apprehended by police.

Elise Armacost, a spokeswoman for Baltimore County police, said that the same day he was picked up on the Upper Darby warrant, he was charged with three counts of second-degree rape and three of second-degree sexual assault.

"He raped and sexually assaulted this girl on three separate occasions," Armacost said.

Gonce is being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center in Towson.

"The current plan is for him to stand trial on the rape charges here before extradition to Pennsylvania," Armacost said.

Gonce and two others were accused of gunning down brothers Christopher Malcolm, 17, and Rohan Bennett, 12, during a drug deal in the boys' Overbrook Park home on July 24. The boys' parents were later arrested on drug charges.

Charged with him were Terrence Seldon, 26, and Michael Holmes, 28, both of Philadelphia.

Gonce and Seldon also face charges in connection with the home invasion in Upper Darby on July 22. They are accused of breaking into an apartment, tying up a man with electrical cord, and threatening him with a gun while searching for cash.

Fleeing Philadelphia, Gonce sought refuge at his cousin's home in Maryland on July 28. According to a Maryland District Court statement of probable cause, Gonce raped her daughter - his second cousin - on July 31 and Aug. 2 and 6.

He admitted the assaults, the statement said, claiming the acts were consensual.

Gonce's crime spree comes just months after his January release from prison in Pennsylvania on burglary and drug charges.

He was serving a four- to eight-year sentence at the Greene state prison and was released to a private halfway house in Chester, said the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

His parole was supposed to last until Nov. 26, 2015.

Sherry Tate, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, said Gonce violated his parole 19 days after his release and was declared delinquent.