December 19, 2023
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
A Philly-based activist has been charged with sexual assaulting two minors.
Activist Kendall Stephens has been charged with multiple counts of rape and crimes against minors.
Stephens, 37, was arrested Monday following an investigation by Philadelphia police's Special Victims Unit, officials said. Police said they received reports of sexual assaults on two minors back in September.
According to NBC10, police said Stephens sexually assaulted two boys, ages 14 and 9. A grandmother reportedly told police Stephens assaulted her grandchild.
The activist is charged with rape, indecent assault, endangering the welfare of a child, dissemination of sexually explicit material to minors and other related crimes. Bail was set at $250,000 after a preliminary arraignment on Monday. Stephens will be back in court Dec. 29 for her preliminary hearing.
Stephens was the victim of an assault inside her Point Breeze home in 2020. Prosecutors said three people beat Stephens and yelled anti-trans slurs during the attack. While two of the attackers were never identified or arrested, Tymesha Wearing was convicted and sentenced to house arrest and community service in February.
Following the assault, Stephens rallied for better hate crime protections for the LGBTQ+ community in Pennsylvania, calling the police who investigated her case "unsympathetic."
The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office is prosecuting the case against Stephens and declined to provide further comment.
Senior staff writer Michael Tanenbaum contributed reporting to this story.
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