Manuel Cintron
Live surveillance and a civilian tip helped Philadelphia police capture an alleged repeat sexual predator who was hiding out at a house in the Northeast on Monday night. It wasn’t the first time that he has been accused of rape.
Cops arrested Manuel Cintron as he left a residence on the 7100 block of Montour St. in Burholme, according to Officer Christine O’Brien, a Philadelphia police spokeswoman. Although Cintron’s connection to the property or its occupants was unclear on Tuesday, someone familiar with Cintron had tipped off investigators that they might find him there, O’Brien said. Police made the arrest without incident as Cintron exited the property.
Cintron, 24, of the 4000 block of N. Sixth St. in the Hunting Park neighborhood, has been charged in connection with the gunpoint abduction and rape of a woman in Fishtown early on May 1, as well as the attempted abduction of a second woman in Logan previously that morning.
The earlier incident occurred at about 4:20 a.m. on May 1 when a woman, age unknown, was walking westbound on the 1100 block of W. Ruscomb St., several blocks north of Hunting Park. As she neared 12th Street, a man approached her, pointed a gun at her, threatened her verbally and attempted to force her into a van that was parked at the corner. But the victim broke free and ran to a nearby SEPTA bus. She later reported the incident to police.
Barely one hour later, at about 5:30 a.m., a 22-year-old woman was walking eastbound on the 2000 block of E. York St. in Fishtown when an unknown man approached her, pointed a gun at her and forced her into a parked minivan. The abductor drove the victim to an unknown side street in the neighborhood, parked in front of a factory and sexually assaulted her inside the vehicle, according to police and published reports. The abductor released the victim near Almond and Boston streets, about nine blocks from where the encounter began and drove away, heading westbound on York Street. Descriptions given by both victims led detectives to believe that the same man was responsible.
On Monday, Cintron was charged with rape, sexual assault, indecent assault, kidnapping, false imprisonment, firearms violations and related offenses. He was also charged with lying to the police about his identity at the time of his arrest.
He remained in a police jail cell on Tuesday afternoon in lieu of $1 million bail and pending his transfer to Philadelphia Prisons custody. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 4.
Cintron should be quite familiar with Philadelphia lock-ups by now. In fact, his adult criminal record reads like a merry-go-round of arrests and acquittals. He has 11 prior arrests in the city, including a 2011 rape case, but just one prior conviction.
As an 18-year-old in March 2010, authorities charged him with trespassing, theft, conspiracy, theft from a vehicle and related offenses. But prosecutors withdrew the case that June after witnesses or a victim failed to show up for court. It was the start of a pattern for Cintron.
He was arrested three more times in 2010 for assault but all three cases were withdrawn under similar circumstances. He allegedly broke into two more cars in 2011, but beat both cases again. In December 2011, he was arrested for rape and numerous other sexual assault and firearms crimes. That victim failed to appear in court and the case was withdrawn in January 2012.
Another firearms-related arrest followed in September 2012, but prosecutors dropped the case three months later for reasons that were not noted on the court docket sheet.
Cintron was charged separately in three more property-related cases in June 2013. Victims or witnesses failed to appear for two of the cases, but a Municipal Court judge convicted Cintron of misdemeanor vandalism and mischief, sentencing him that October to two years probation. ••
