PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — A man accused of raping a woman in a downtown Philadelphia office building was taken into custody Thursday night in South Jersey, according to police.
The Washington Township Police Department in Gloucester County credited social media and an alert nurse with helping them find the suspect, identified as 49-year-old Willie Harris.
“We put the post on social media around 9:00 p.m. and he was taken into custody by 11:00 p.m.,” Washington Township Police Chief Patrick Gurcsik said.
Harris was arrested two days after the incident.
The assault happened around 2:14 p.m. Tuesday at a law office in the 200 block of North 13th Street.
Police said a 22-year-old woman was raped while her colleague was at lunch. They were the only two working in the office at the time.
Philadelphia police released surveillance video of Harris.
The video reportedly shows the suspect casually walking in and out of the office building before the attack.
Once inside the building, police said the suspect went to the 8th floor and entered the unlocked law office.
The man indicated he was looking for someone, but the victim said he didn’t know the name, according to Capt. James Kearney of the Special Victims Unit. The man then made the victim sit in a chair.
Harris then allegedly began rummaging around the office and the victim offered to give the man her Airpods and earrings in hopes he would go away.
He then became angry and punched and choked the victim when she tried to call for help, police said.
Kearney said the suspect then raped the victim.
The attack was interrupted when the colleague returned to the office. The suspect then fled.
Authorities noted that Harris was spotted in Woodbury, New Jersey on Wednesday.
Late Thursday afternoon, the Washington Township Police Department received information that Harris had been seen on Egg Harbor Road near the Xpress Mart.
Detectives went to that location and pulled surveillance video of Harris standing at the bus stop.
Police then posted a “Be on the lookout” post on social media with a photo of Harris around 9 p.m
It was shared thousands of times.
Within an hour, a nurse at Jefferson City Washington Hospital called police, saying they believed the suspect was in the hospital and had just been discharged.
The police found him on a bench outside and arrested him.
“An alert nurse here at the hospital saw (the social media post) on her shift and immediately notified hospital security and the police department and we were there within a minute or two and picked him up and took him into custody without incident,” – Chief Gurchik said.
After the arrest, police updated the social media post, saying, “Thank you to our vigilant community of followers for seeing and sharing this social media post.”
They added a photo of Harris with the words “in custody.”
The chief says Harris will likely be booked into the county jail and extradited to Pennsylvania.
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