Fear, worry in Germantown amid series of rapes

Update Wednesday 10:20 a.m.: After questioning a "person of interest" overnight, police now say they expect to charge him.

Earlier story:

Two of the four girls were raped near places of refuge for children: an elementary school, a church, a recreation center.

But they were mainly approached at night, when East Chelten Avenue quiets down and those buildings go dark. A man carrying a gun apparently forced his victims - unnoticed - into the darkness.

"At night on this street, it's pretty quiet," said Rita Tarpley, who lives on a block of Chelten where one girl was attacked.

"During the day there's a lot of hustle and bustle," she said. "But as it gets dark, you don't see a lot of traffic. I'm figuring it's somebody in the neighborhood who is watching people. . . . It's someone sitting among us doing this."

In Germantown on Tuesday, residents tried to absorb the police theory that one man has raped four girls in the neighborhood since March.

The victims are between the ages of 12 and 17. The attacks occurred within blocks of one another. The rapist always carried a gun.

One girl, 12, was attacked while waiting for a school bus on Price Street, a leafy block of brick rowhouses near Chelten.

"It's a really horrible situation," said Marci Allen, an administrative assistant at the New Gethsemane Baptist Church on Chelten.

The church leadership asked her to keep the church's doors locked at all times because of the rapes. "Other than that, we're just trying to be vigilant here," she said.

Allen said she thinks the rapist lives in the neighborhood because the attacks occurred in the same general area.

Experts say serial rapists typically strike near where they live or work.

"This isn't somebody who lives 20 miles away and goes to Germantown to rape," said Louis B. Schlesinger, a professor of forensic psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York.

Schlesinger said serial rapists tend to be less violent and impulsive than those who do not exhibit a pattern of repeat attacks. Otherwise, he said, there is no standard profile of a serial rapist.

"There's a lot of variation," he said. "They vary in race, age, criminal background, what he does at a crime scene, and so on.

"Some target a particular type of victim. Some are very diverse and target old and young people," he said. "Some will make [their victims] say things. Some will rob them."

Police obtained video footage of the suspect before and after one of the rapes, but the images are grainy and the attacker's face is obscured.

Capt. John Darby of the Special Victims Unit said police continue to look for more video that may have captured the rapist. Police also are following up on tips and other leads.

He said the Citizens' Crime Commission is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Germantown residents continue to be on the lookout as well.

Laverne Clarke, who grew up on Wister Street near the scene of one attack and often comes home to visit, said the warmer weather should bring more people outside at night to watch the streets.

"I think the whole area is very much on edge right now," she said.