Teen held in gunpoint rape in Phila.

Police have arrested an 18-year-old and charged him with robbing a couple and then raping the woman at gunpoint Tuesday in front of her boyfriend in Southwest Philadelphia.

Police did not release the name of the alleged offender because they are investigating him for other crimes and searching for the accomplice in the attack, said Capt. John Darby of the Special Victims Unit.

Darby said the victim, a teacher, and her boyfriend were returning from dinner about 9:30 p.m., walking along Springfield Avenue near 48th Street, when they were approached by the 18-year-old and a younger-looking accomplice.

The 18-year-old pointed a gun at the man and woman and forced them into an alley, where the teens robbed the couple. Then the 18-year-old raped the woman while pointing the gun at both, Darby said.

The boyfriend talked with television reporters Wednesday night, saying the accomplice tried to persuade the teen not to rape the woman, saying, "We got everything we wanted." The accomplice is believed to be female, investigators said.

The suspect was arrested late Wednesday, Darby said. The gun, a replica .44-caliber Magnum pellet gun, has been recovered, police said.

"The gun is a very realistic weapon," said Lt. Ray Evers, a police spokesman. "Even to the trained eye, it looks like a weapon."

The boyfriend said he prayed for the crime to be over quickly.

"I kept looking at his gun because I was trying to make a decision if I was going to go after the gun," said the man, who told the TV reporters he was 40. "But she was pleading with me not to, that she needed me here."

Police are investigating whether the 18-year-old and his accomplice were involved in other recent neighborhood robberies, including one last Thursday about 12:30 a.m., when a 27-year-old woman was attacked by two teens on the 4800 block of Chester Avenue.

In that attack, the woman described how a short teenager, wearing a military-style sweater with shoulder pads and carrying an old black revolver, ordered her into a nearby driveway while another teen, tall and thin, stood behind her.

After the woman refused to go into the driveway, the teens stole her pocketbook and fled.

The District Attorney's Office has charged the suspect in Tuesday's attack with 19 crimes, including rape, kidnapping, and aggravated assault.