Police probe pattern of rapes around Kensington Ave.

Detectives are investigating a pattern of four rapes that have occurred since October on women walking alone at night in the area of Kensington Avenue.

In each case, the attacker severely beat the woman with his fists, causing facial fractures and, in one case, breaking the victim's jaw.

One victim, who remains hospitalized, was beaten so badly that police have been unable to interview her.

The first rape happened Oct. 4. Similar attacks were reported Oct. 20 and Nov. 8, and the fourth occurred Monday.

In the last case, the attacker told the victim that his name was Sean. He displayed a box cutter, the only time any of the women was threatened with a weapon.

A composite sketch was produced after the first assault. but investigators cannot say the same person is responsible for all four rapes.

One of the victims was able to describe only her attacker's race.

"Quite frankly, we don't know if one or more persons are perpetrating these crimes out there," said Capt. John Darby, commander of the Special Victims Unit.

Although one victim was lured into an abandoned home after negotiating a price for sex, police refused to characterize the victims as prostitutes.

"They're what we consider high-risk victims," Darby said.

In the first case, a 32-year-old woman reported being pushed into a vacant lot and attacked in the 900 block of East Ontario Street. The second victim, 41, said she had been pulled into an alley in the 3300 block of Kensington Avenue.

The last two attacks occurred in the same area of East Sterner Street: a 27-year-old said she had been raped on the nearby train tracks, and a 32-year-old woman accompanied the attacker into an abandoned house.

Darby said he was concerned that there were more victims who had not come forward.

During the investigation, detectives uncovered a second series of alleged rapes and arrested a 25-year-old Philadelphia man.

Kevin Maxwell, of the 3500 block of Woodhaven Road, faces charges in four attacks. He denied raping the women, but acknowledged meeting them on the street and paying them for sex, police said.

In each case, a woman reported that Maxwell had picked her up in a blue pickup, forced her to have sex, and photographed the encounters.

In two cases, the women reported that the attacker had robbed them. Three alleged rapes happened after the attacker drove the women to a cemetery on Adams Avenue. One woman said she had been attacked in a lot after she protested the attacker's plan to drive to a cemetery.

Only one of the alleged victims contacted police in April. Maxwell was questioned at the time but released.

The three other women who later identified Maxwell did not initially lodge complaints. They reported the incidents when contacted by detectives investigating the other series of attacks.

Maxwell is not a suspect in the more violent pattern of rapes, Darby said.

Anyone with information on those attacks should contact the Special Victims Unit at 215-685-3252/3265.