July 08, 2022
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Willie Harris, 49, was arrested Thursday in Gloucester County for allegedly sexually assaulting a 22-year-old woman in a Center City law firm office Tuesday. Harris was taken into custody outside Jefferson Washington Township Hospital after a nurse recognized him as a recently discharged patient.
The man wanted for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in a Center City office building has been taken into custody, police said.
Willie Harris, 49, entered an unlocked law firm office on the 200 block of North 13th Street at 2:14 p.m. Tuesday and sexually assaulted a 22-year-old woman, police said. He was arrested in Washington Township, New Jersey, on Thursday night, 6ABC reported.
Harris had been spotted several times in Gloucester County in the days following the assault.
After the Washington Township Police Department posted Harris' picture on social media Thursday night, a nurse at Jefferson Washington Township Hospital recognized him as a patient who had just been discharged.
Police found him sitting on a bench outside the hospital and took him into custody.
There was only one person in the law firm office, located on the building's eighth floor, when Harris entered Tuesday, police said. The woman's co-worker was out to lunch.
Harris allegedly demanded the woman stay seated as he rummaged through the office.The woman tried to give Harris her AirPods and earrings so he would leave, but he then became angry, police said. Harris then allegedly beat and raped the woman.
Harris fled the scene when the woman's co-worker returned, police said. He was spotted running from the building immediately after the incident and then seen again 20 minutes later one block away, FOX29 reported.
Harris does not have a known permanent address, but has ties to Woodbury, Camden and Philadelphia, police said. He also has several known aliases, including William Banks, Wil Harris, Billy Smith, Reese Smith, Willie Smith and Maurice Harris.
He's being held in the Gloucester County Jail and likely will be extradited to Pennsylvania. He previously has been charged in Philadelphia with burglary and trespassing, court records show.
