Man admits assault in Temple’s Anderson Hall

An 18-year-old North Philadelphia man pleaded guilty this afternoon to brutally beating and indecently assaulting a Temple University student in a campus building on Nov. 1.

Steven Holmes faces up to 97 years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 22 for the assault as well as escaping from a youth detention facility in October and threatening a witness in December.

Holmes, a schizphrenic who needs medication to prevent him hearing voices and hallucinating, answered "yes, m'am," in a firm voice to questions posed by Common Pleas Court Judge Karen Shreeves-Johns.

His victim, accompanied by her father and brother, sat in back of the courtroom during the short proceeded.

Holmes, who lives on 11th Street near Berks, only about half a block from Temple, attacked the 22-year-old woman inside Temple's Anderson Hall about 7 p.m. on Nov. 1 as she was closing a classroom.

The assailand choked the woman unconscious and dragged her into a bathroom where he indecently assaulted her and smashed her on the floor and with his fists, said Assistant District Attorney Bill Davis.

Before fleeing, Holmes looted the woman's backpack and stole her cell phone, which he used later to call a friend.

That friend became a witness and in December Holmes called her from jail and threatened her, Davis said.

Police said DNA collected from the crime scene matched that of Holmes.