Man Nabbed in Connection with Rape of 11-Year-Old Girl in West Kensington

 

KYW Newsradio Team Coverage

by Michelle Durham, John McDevitt, Hadas Kuznits, Kim Glovas, and Ed Fischer

The same day that Philadelphia police released a photo of a "person of interest" in connection with the rape of an 11-year-old girl in West Kensington, an angry group of neighbors grabbed and beat the man before turning him over to police.

Officials say  26-year-old Jose Carrasquillo of North Philadelphia was taken into custody at Front and Clearfield after being grabbed and roughed up by neighborhood residents who held him until police arrived. 

Carrasquillo was taken to Temple University Hospital in handcuffs for treatment.

He was also facing a DNA screening to positively establish his identity and determine whether he is linked to the case.

Although police initially stressed that Carrasquillo was not wanted for the rape, his photograph bears a striking resemblance to an artist's sketch of the perpetrator released by police on Monday afternoon.

Investigators say Carrasquillo had previously been seen in the backyard where the rape occurred.

Both Carrasquillo and the perpetrator were described as 5' 8" tall, with a thin build. Carrasquillo has tattoos on the left side of his neck -- an Asian symbol and a skull with a cross through a heart and the words "RIP" and "Mom."

Commissioner Charles Ramsey says Carrasquillo is no stranger to police:

"His past history shows a prior sexual assault, but the charges were withdrawn.  He has 17 priors -- narcotics, sex, and a few other kinds of cases."

Folks in West Kensington say the fight began when one of the residents recognized a man they thought was Carrasquillo:

(Woman:) "The detectives came around [earlier in the day] and they showed a picture of him."

(Man:) "He walked by and somebody was like, 'Yo!  This guy looks like the guy who raped the little girl!' "

(Woman:) "We already had knew him from the neighborhood."

(Man:) "So they confronted him, like, 'Don't go nowhere!' "

That's when residents say they decided to take matters into their own hands:

"One of the other guys hit him in the head with a stick a couple times.  I punched him in his face.  My friend hit him, and then he got arrested by the cops."

So do residents think they did anything wrong?

"All the people were just so excited, they were just screaming and jumping.  'We got him, we got him!'  It's a good feeling!  We got this guy out of the streets.  So we all look out for each other here.  People think we're bad.  We're not."

It wasn't immediately clear if anyone will be charged in the beating.  Police were looking into the incident.

The 11-year-old girl was raped on Monday morning as she made her way to school in West Kensington.  The victim said the man, who called himself "Alex," had deep cuts on his neck.  Police recovered his glasses (below). 

The Fraternal Order of Police issued a $10,000 reward in the case.

Capt. John Darby of the police department's Special Victims Unit says the girl had just dropped off a younger sibling at daycare about 8:20am when she was approached by a white male in his 20s (depicted in sketch at right) with black hair and facial hair, wearing a white t-shirt and black shorts with red and white stripes. 

Darby says the man started walking beside the girl, then told her he had a gun and threatened her if she did not cooperate. 

Darby says the attacker forced his young victim to walk with him from the 3000 block of Kensington Avenue and through an alley off the 2000 block of E. Westmoreland Street to a back yard, where he raped her repeatedly.

Officials say the girl was so severely injured that she had to undergo surgery at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children.