Three men have been charged with abducting a 15-year-old girl in Southwest Philadelphia, holding her captive for three days and raping and sodomizing her, police said.
Eddie A. Johnson, 30, of Philadelphia, Alfred Kulah, 35, of Upper Darby, and Mortimah Kesselly, 41, of Upper Darby, were arraigned Wednesday on charges of rape, sexual assault of a minor, kidnapping, and several other charges, according to reports. The three men are being held in Delaware County Prison on $100,000 bail each.
“It’s a horrific crime,” said Upper Darby Police Superintendent Mike Chitwood.
According to Chitwood, the gruesome ordeal started Friday night when the girl, who lives in North Philadelphia, was walking down the 6600 block of Upland Street around 11 p.m. to her father’s house. A dark car pulled up, a man got out and grabbed the girl by the arm and forced her into the back seat of the car, where two other men were waiting.
Chitwood said the men drove around for about 30 minutes and took the girl to a second-floor apartment where they each raped, sodomized and threatened the girl numerous times.
On Sunday morning, one man left the apartment, another fell asleep, while the third was in another part of the apartment and the girl was able to escape, Chitwood said. A “Good Samaritan,” who police have not been able to identify, passed by and saw the girl and allowed her to use his cell phone to call her father, who had reported her missing on Saturday. The Good Samaritan took the girl to her father, who transported her to Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia.
The girl reported the incident to Philadelphia police on Monday who referred the case to Upper Darby. Chitwood said the girl was able to show them the apartment she escaped from on the 500 block of Long Lane, which was later determined to be the residence of Kulah and Kesselly. Police picked up the two, who the girl positively identified, and through the investigation found Johnson.
Chitwood said police got a search warrant for the Long Lane apartment and recovered a “significant amount of physical evidence that validates her allegations of assault, kidnapping.”
The girl does not know any of the defendants, Chitwood said, but Johnson lives on the same block as her father. Chitwood did not know if the girl’s father knew Johnson.
None of the defendants have criminal records, and Chitwood said they claim the girl came to them.
“They’re claiming that she got in the car voluntarily and two claim they had consensual sex, the third one says he didn’t have sex with her,” he said. “We found evidence that supports her claim. For a 15-year-old young lady, she’s very credible even though what she went through was horrific.”
Chitwood said the girl was treated and released from the hospital.
