Bail Set at Half a Million for Cold Case Rape Suspect

U.S. Marshals transported Ronald Ellis Mapp, 35, to Phoenixville from Florida on Wednesday morning to face charges for a rape that occurred in the borough in 1998.

DNA evidence collected more than a decade ago helped link Mapp, formerly of Williamsport and Philadelphia, to the cold case. Mapp is currently serving time in federal prison in Florida after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a murder and a slew of robberies.

On Sept. 19, 1998, a 27-year-old woman walking on Nutt Road near Althouse Lane shortly before 6:15 a.m. was approached by a masked man who physically assaulted her and then took her around the back of what was then the Quick Shop at 468 Nutt Road. The man sexually assaulted her in a fenced area behind the shop and following the assault, the woman went to Phoenixville Hospital, where police interviewed her.

DNA evidence was collected and in 2002—the same year Mapp was involved in a five-county robbery ring and had a role in an Allentown murder—that evidence was added to a state police database. In November 2010, Det. Sgt. Joseph Nemic of the Phoenixville Police Department received notification that a preliminary DNA match was made, and it led him to Mapp, who was serving time in Florida.

FBI special agents assisted in the investigation and interviewed Mapp in prison in Coleman, FL. They found that he had ties to Phoenixville in September 1998 and collected a new sample of DNA from Mapp. That sample matched, and Nemic received notification on Aug. 4. Charges the next day.

Charges include a felony count of rape, a felony charge of rape with threat of force, a felony sexual assault charge and a number of misdemeanor charges along with a summary harassment charge.

After being extradited, Mapp was arraigned in front of District Judge Susann Welsh on Wednesday morning, and she set bail at $500,000 cash. He’ll remain in Pennsylvania and has a preliminary hearing on the rape charges scheduled for Jan. 5.

Charges include a felony count of rape, a felony charge of rape with threat of force, a felony sexual assault charge and a number of misdemeanor charges along with a summary harassment charge. Mapp was arraigned in front of District Judge Susann Welsh on Wednesday morning, and she set bail at $500,000. He’ll remain in Pennsylvania and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 5.

While the statute of limitations for rape is 12 years in Pennsylvania, a law passed a few years ago added a DNA exception that extends that statute in DNA cases. According to Nemic, if DNA links a suspect to a rape, police have one year from that DNA match to file charges.

“It’s a good law,” Nemic said.

Mapp was in a Florida penitentiary serving a 25-year sentence for his involvement in a robbery ring in 2002. Mapp was also sentenced to 20 to 40 years for a murder at the Sports Page bar that occurred during one of the robberies.