The man accused of sexually assaulting Philly women went on a crime spree across multiple states, police say
DA Larry Krasner will charge Kevin Bennett with rape, stalking, robbery, burglary, and weapons charges once he is extradited to Philadelphia, which could take months.
Federal and local authorities said Tuesday that an Indiana man committed robberies and sexual offenses in a crime spree across multiple states before traveling to Philadelphia this month and stalking or sexually assaulting at least six women.
The new details were disclosed after prosecutors in Indianapolis charged Kevin Bennett, 28, with an April rape and kidnapping in that city, in which he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman at gunpoint inside her apartment building. Federal prosecutors also charged him Tuesday with intending to distribute methamphetamine and illegal gun possession.
A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office in Marion County, where Indianapolis is located, said Bennett will be held there until the federal case is resolved. Bennett did not have an attorney listed as of Tuesday.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said his office will charge Bennett with rape, stalking, robbery, burglary, and weapons charges once he is extradited to Philadelphia, which could take months.
“I’m glad that he is going to be brought to justice in the multiple jurisdictions where he’s accused of wrongdoing,” Krasner said.
Almost all the women Bennett is accused of targeting in Philadelphia are employed as dancers or bartenders at strip clubs, which Philadelphia Police Special Victims Unit Capt. Mark Burgmann described as Bennett’s “M.O.” The victim in the Indianapolis case was employed as a dancer at a nightclub there.
» READ MORE: Police arrest man suspected in series of Philadelphia sexual assaults
An Indianapolis police detective said in court papers that the victim there told officers that on April 2, a man matching Bennett’s description dragged her down a set of stairs in her apartment building into a bathroom, then raped her at gunpoint and hit her in the head with his gun. Fingerprints on a condom wrapper found at the scene matched those of Bennett, who was convicted of armed robbery in Indianapolis in 2011.
Three days later, according to court papers, the detective received a call from an FBI agent based in Nashville, who said she was working with law enforcement agencies across the South looking for a man suspected of raping and robbing women who work in strip clubs. The agent told him that a dancer in Mount Juliet, a Nashville suburb, was raped on April 6, and that surveillance video showed the perpetrator getting into a Cadillac with plates registered to Bennett.
Michael Leffler, a spokesperson for Marion County prosecutors, said Bennett wasn’t charged after the fingerprint match because “the investigation was ongoing.”
About three weeks later, Bennett was in Philadelphia, where he “terrorized and assaulted” women over four days in six incidents that included three sexual assaults, Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Branwen McNabb said Monday. Authorities haven’t determined whether Bennett had a previous connection to the city.
After Philadelphia police detected the pattern and identified Bennett, a warrant was issued and Indianapolis police arrested him outside a shopping plaza. They found two guns in his vehicle, according to charging documents, as well as 44 grams of methamphetamine and $14,000 in his pockets.
An FBI agent also wrote in court papers that Bennett also had a $6,300 diamond bracelet that was linked to an April 5 robbery in Hattiesburg, Miss. Local police in Hattiesburg released surveillance footage of the robbery, saying a perpetrator wearing the same outfit had been connected to robberies at Kay Jewelers locations in Slidell, La., and Fultondale, Ala.
The footage shows a man matching Bennett’s description wearing camouflage pants and a T-shirt with the slogan “Legend In The Making.”
Staff writer Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this article.