A Chester man was convicted in series of rapes and sexual assaults that targeted women walking alone

A Chester man who terrorized, raped and sexually assaulted multiple women in Delaware Countybetween September 2016 and January 2017 was convicted of those crimes Thursday.

DeJohn Lee, 27, was found guilty of raping three women and attempting to rape a fourth, as well as unlawfully restraining some of the women, robbing them, and assaulting them, according to the verdict handed down by Delaware County Court Judge James Bradley.

Lee was also convicted of gun and drug charges stemming from his arrest in January 2017.

Bradley deferred Lee’s sentencing until Nov. 19. In the meantime, Lee will remain at Norristown State Hospital, where he will undergo mental health and sexual-violence evaluations.

Lee’s assaults followed a clear pattern, prosecutors said at his trial last week: He targeted women who were walking alone at night or early in the morning. He confronted them, sometimes at gunpoint, and forced them into secluded areas where he raped them and forced them to perform sex acts.

He would steal or discard the women’s cell phones, then force them to count to a high number so he could make his getaway. Lee threatened to shoot them if they didn’t follow those directions.

Lee’s attorneys, Sherri Eyer and Scott Galloway, argued at trial that the victims were not reliable witnesses because their testimony in court differed from statements they had given to police eight years ago. Eyer also said physical evidence connected Lee to only one of the attacks, in which a rape kit tested positive for his DNA.

Prosecutors, however, said Lee confessed to three of the four assaults, providing details that police did not know at the time. Additionally, they said, all of the assaults bore a nearly identical modus operandi.

The four women, prosecutors said, were attacked within a few-block radius of Lee’s apartment in Chester. Two of the women said they recognized him, one from school and the other from a store where they had briefly worked together.

The second woman led police to Lee, after she saw him walk into a Shop Rite in Glenolden in January 2017. She testified last week that she had grown tired of seeing him walk around, avoiding punishment for what he had done to her, and wanted to ensure he wouldn’t hurt anyone else.

At the time of his arrest, Lee was carrying a .22-caliber pistol that had been reported stolen, as well as a cell phone belonging to one of the women he raped. On that phone were selfies he had taken wearing clothing that matched the description of what the victims said their rapist had worn.

In the years since Lee’s arrest, Eyer contended that he was incompetent to stand trial, citing expert analysis and psychiatric reports. Bradley agreed in January 2022 and sent Lee to Norristown State Hospital for treatment.

But the judge reversed his decision earlier this month, setting up last week’s three-day bench trial. Lee is also charged in five other sexual assaults. Those cases remain open, and prosecutors said Thursday they are waiting until after his sentencing next month to see how best to proceed with them.