Bella Vista rapist gets long prison term

The witnesses described how the crime had shattered their shared belief in urban neighborliness and safety in South Philadelphia's Bella Vista section.

On Friday, the man who admitted the crime that fractured Bella Vista was sentenced to 311/2 to 63 years in prison for the rape last March of a barista at a popular local coffee shop.

Christopher Reeves, 33, a man whose lawyer said began a life of homelessness and chronic drug use at age 12, said nothing before he was sentenced by Common Pleas Court Judge William J. Mazzola.

"She showed a stranger kindness by giving the stranger some money," Mazzola told Reeves. "This kindness you repaid with a violent, degrading assault."

Mazzola sentenced Reeves to consecutive prison terms on the charges to which he pleaded guilty in October: rape, two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, and a robbery count.

Reeves was arrested April 3, 2011, in Chester, three days after the attack on the 29-year-old barista as she opened the Bean Exchange Coffeehouse at Seventh and Bainbridge Streets.

The victim identified Reeves from a photo array, and a Third Police District officer recognized Reeves as a homeless man who frequented Bella Vista. Reeves was later linked to the rape through blood and DNA.

Lawyer Paul Cianci read a statement from the victim - she was not in court - who said Reeves "didn't just rape me. He completely altered the way I look at the world. . . . I will always be afraid."

Reeves admitted entering the coffee shop at 6:15 a.m. March 31, 2011, as the barista was opening for the day.

Reeves told the woman he was homeless and needed money to get back to his shelter. The barista gave him $1 and Reeves left but then returned and pursued her to a back room.

Reeves, 6-foot-5 and 180 pounds, broke in the bathroom door, which the victim had locked. He raped and assaulted her and took $173 from the cash register.

Bean Exchange owner Matthew Armstrong said the legacy of the crime is "never-ending." Besides the attack on his employee, Armstrong said his business has been hurt and three Bella Vista merchants have closed because of the cost of installing security systems or hiring guards.

"This has caused a great change to the community, a great change for everyone who lives in this area," Armstrong said.

Gregory Pastore, president of Bella Vista Town Watch, called the crime's impact on the neighborhood "devastating," and resident Elizabeth Ray said "no amount of sorrow, regret, or remorse [by Reeves] can take back what happened."

One Bella Vista resident who described the rape's effect was Reeves' defense attorney, Mythri Jayaraman, who said she used to go to the coffee shop "all the time."

"I cannot overstate the effect of what Chris did that day has had on all of us in that community," Jayaraman told Mazzola.

"But the justice system always has to look at more than the impact on a person, more than just the impact on the community," Jayaraman said, recommending a 15- to 30-year sentence.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Stackow asked Mazzola to impose the maximum 40 to 80 years in prison.

"His time for rehabilitation is over," Stackow said.

Stackow said that, unlike the community, the victim's memory of what happened won't fade: "For the rest of her life she will walk around with her own crime scene . . . in her own body."