Man charged in one of several Kensington rapes

Police have arrested a man they believe was responsible for at least one of several rapes and beatings of prostitutes along Kensington Avenue last year.

Quincy Williams, 37, was arrested Tuesday on charges of rape, aggravated assault, violation of probation, and other offenses, Philadelphia Police Capt. John Darby announced yesterday.

Williams was arrested shortly after police set up a sting operation aimed at catching the area's johns in November. He denied any involvement in the attacks and gave police a sample of his DNA.

Police eventually matched it to DNA taken from a woman who was attacked Nov. 17 in an abandoned building by a man who had agreed to pay her for sex.

Police were still investigating whether Williams could be connected to other rapes in the area, said Darby, commander of the Special Victims Unit.

Authorities do not have DNA evidence in all the cases, and investigators have said from the beginning that there may have been more than one rapist.

Williams matches the description that some victims gave to police, and there have been no similar attacks in the area since the police sting.

The rapes started in October and ended Nov. 17. In each case, the victim was approached while walking near Kensington Avenue, and in each case her attacker beat her severely with his fists, causing facial fractures and breaking one woman's jaw.

In the sting, female officers posed as prostitutes and officers flooded the area.

"We recognize a victim is a victim," Darby said. "This could have been happening in any neighborhood in the city."

Police arrested 76 men on solicitation charges. Investigators turned over a sample of Williams' DNA to the lab, but he disappeared and did not show up for a court hearing.

When technicians linked his DNA to one rape, investigators learned that he was on probation for a 1998 voluntary-manslaughter conviction for shooting a man in Conshohocken. Williams was initially charged with first-degree murder in that case but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge.

He was arrested Tuesday in Olney. He had recently lived in the 1800 block of Cornwall Street in Kensington, near where the rapes were committed.

Williams has been arrested more than a dozen times since 1991 and has convictions for assault, terroristic threats, and weapons offenses.