Man arrested in one of two weekend rapes

Philadelphia police have arrested a man in one of two unrelated rapes over the weekend.

Jose Miranda, 31, of the 3300 block of G. Street, is charged with rape and related offenses in an attack in Northeast Philadelphia on a women who had accepted a ride home from him after a partly early yesterday.

Police said the 21-year-old victim was riding in Miranda's 2009 white Honda Accord about 6 a.m. when he pulled to the side of the road on the 5800 block of Ditman Street and sexually assaulted her. The woman fought him off and escaped from the car, police said.

As the driver sped away from the scene, he crashed into three cars, jumped from his own vehicle, and ran away, said police, who arrested Miranda after tracing ownership of the car.

Police are still seeking the men who sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl at gunpoint Saturday night as she walked home from a shopping center in Olney.

The girl told police she was grabbed by three males about 8:30 p.m. along the 5400 block of Mascher Street, said police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore.

The males forced her into a wooded area near the R8 rail station at Olney Avenue, where one flashed a silver handgun before they attacked her, the girl told police. After assaulting her, the attackers ran toward Olney Plaza, Vanore said.

The girl said one of her assailants wore a blue-and-green polo shirt and blue jeans, but she was unable to describe the other two.