A man pleaded guilty on Monday to attacking and raping four young girls between the ages of 12 and 17 in a Philadelphia neighborhood in 2013, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office announced.
Antuane Brown, 25, pleaded no contest to the four brutal rapes, which happened in the city's Germantown section over the course of about three months.
In the first attack, which happened March 19, 2013, prosecutors said Brown donned a mask and snatched a 12-year-old girl as she waited for a bus to school in the morning on Price Street, according to the DA's Office. He then forced the girl into an alley, where he raped and sodomized her before stealing her school ID and threatening to kill her family if she called the police.
Several weeks later, Brown struck again, the DA's office said, accosting a 17-year-old girl on Chelten Avenue the night of April 23, 2013. He forced the teen into an alley at gunpoint, raped and sodomized her, and threatened to kill her, according to the DA's office. He stole her ID card as well, officials said.
On May 19, 2013, in the third attack, according to the DA's office, Brown rode a bicycle up to a 15-year-old girl on Wister Street at night and forced her into an alley at gunpoint, then raped her.
Less than a month after that, on June 2, 2013, prosecutors say he struck again, attacking a 17-year-old girl on Chelten Avenue, shoving a gun into her stomach and forcing her into a field behind a rec center. He raped and sodomized that victim as well, authorities said, and threatened to killer her if she told the police.
All four victims reported their assaults to the police, who later found surveillance video showing the May attack and released it to the public. Numerous tips eventually led investigators to Brown on June 5, 2013, and he was arrested a linked by DNA to the crimes, prosecutors said. All four of the rapes were committed within a half-mile of Brown's home, prosecutors said.
"These four young girls and their families have gone through unimaginable pain and suffering because of what Antuane Brown did to them, and today’s plea of no contest makes sure he is punished for his crimes,” said Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams. “I’d like to thank the brave young women and their families for their help in building this case, the public who offered their tips and the Philadelphia Police Department for working with my office to find, arrest and prosecute the defendant."
Brown faces a maximum potential sentence of 320 years in prison at his Feb. 12 sentencing.
