Inmate arraigned in 1998 Chesco rape

A former Philadelphia resident in prison for a 2002 murder and a robbery spree was arraigned Wednesday on charges that he raped a Phoenixville woman 13 years ago.

Ronald E. Mapp, 35, was extradited from Florida, where he is serving a 25-to-50-year term in a federal penitentiary, after his DNA was found to match samples from the crime scene.

The victim, 27 at the time of the assault, told police she was approached from behind by a masked individual while walking on Nutt Road in the area of Althouse Lane about 6:15 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1998.

She said that after she was forced into a fenced area and sexually assaulted, the suspect fled. Police said they were notified a year ago of a preliminary match through a national database.

Mapp has been in prison in Coleman, Fla., for his roles in a 2002 robbery ring in Lehigh and Bucks Counties, and in an April 2002 murder at the Sports Page bar in Allentown during one of the robberies.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 5.