Police arrest man suspected in series of Philadelphia sexual assaults

Authorities arrested the man suspected of sexually assaulting three women at gunpoint in Philadelphia in the past week, Philadelphia police said Saturday.

Kevin Bennett, 28, of Indianapolis, was arrested close to 2 p.m. in Indiana. He was taken into the custody of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

Bennett had been wanted in connection with seven incidents that spanned May 15 to 18. In that time, authorities said, he sexually assaulted three women. In most of the incidents, he appeared to have targeted dancers who worked at nightclubs.

“I’ve been in this business for 30-plus years,” said John Meehan, who owns the Oasis and Cheerleaders nightclubs. “I’ve never experienced anything like this in my career.”

On May 15 at 2:45 a.m., police said Bennett followed a bartender back to their house in Media from Sin City Cabaret Nightclub at 6130 Passyunk Ave. He fled in his gray Dodge Charger when he realized the bartender’s boyfriend was home.

Later that day, around midnight, a man followed a woman from Delilah’s gentlemen’s club on Spring Garden Street to a Wawa parking lot in West Norriton Township. From there, the woman called police and reported that a gray Dodge Charger with its license number covered had been following her and continued to do so, despite several evasive moves, before leaving.

Five hours later, authorities said a woman was sitting in her car on the 3400 block of North 11th Street when a man got out of a vehicle that was parked several spots ahead, walked up to her, pointed a gun at her, and ordered her to a nearby alley, where he sexually assaulted her.

On May 17, a female employee at the Oasis, at 6798 Essington Ave., left her shift around 9:30 p.m. and drove home. When she entered her apartment’s parking garage, authorities said Bennett snuck inside by following closely behind her when she used her security pass and parked his Dodge Charger three spots from the woman’s car. As he began to walk over, the woman drove off and called 911.

At midnight on May 18, police said, a woman came home from work at one club when she noticed a man sliding against the wall in her apartment complex on the 900 block of North Eighth Street. She screamed and ran to a neighbor’s apartment and the man escaped. Ten hours later Bennett allegedly returned, dressed as an electrical worker, and sexually assaulted two women at gunpoint.

Later that day, a woman at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in King of Prussia said she was exercising at the fitness center when a man pulled out a gun and ordered her to leave with him. When she said no, he hit her in the head with a gun, then ran.

Meehan said he reviewed around seven hours of video footage and said Bennett spent between 30 to 45 minutes at the Oasis on Monday and a little over an hour at Cheerleaders’ South Front Street location on Tuesday.

Meehan recalled Bennett asked female employees what they were up to later that night. At Cheerleaders, he said, he paid with a gift card, drank a soda, kept moving around, and only spoke to one woman.

Meehan said he feels terrible for the women. “It’s a shame,” he said.

“Every few years something like this pops up,” said a longtime entertainer at Cheerleaders who goes by the name Vivian. “However, I’ve never seen it hit so close to home, and I’ve never seen it done so brazenly.”

She said the last week rattled her community, leading them to band together more closely and look out for one another’s safety.

”We’re kind of clinging to each other more,” she said.

She encouraged fellow entertainers to maintain boundaries, be mindful of information shared with customers, and check surroundings as they head home.

“You have to make it very known: Listen, this is my job,” she said. “This is my profession. This does not define who I am.”

A police spokesperson said Saturday investigations into the other alleged incidents continue. Anyone with information about the case can call the Philadelphia Police Special Victims Unit at 215-685-3264 or 911.