Robert Palen
One victim said she just wanted to charge her cell phone and get a ride home. Another said that she had agreed to have sex with the guy, but that was before he turned angry and violent.
Both women testified last Thursday that Robert Palen drove them each to a secluded area of Pennypack Park, beat them mercilessly and raped them. As a result of their testimony, Municipal Court Judge Teresa Carr Deni ordered Palen, 39, to stand trial for the brutal attacks, which occurred a year apart, almost to the day.
Palen was living with his wife and children on the 4200 block of Frost St. in Holmesburg when the first alleged rape occurred on Aug. 1, 2010. The victim, now 31, reportedly told the court that she was standing at Disston Street and Torresdale Avenue at about 7 p.m. when Palen approached in a white utility truck and engaged her in conversation. The defendant complimented her appearance and warned her about “a lot of weirdos” who roamed the area, she testified, according to the Daily News.
Over the years, the spot has become notorious for prostitution. The woman said she agreed to have sex with Palen in exchange for cash and got into his truck.
But after they stopped at a convenience store, Palen became angry, refused to let her leave and drove her to the area of 8100 Cresco Ave., where he parked, pulled her into the woods, battered her in the head and forced her to have sex, she recalled. The scene is less than a mile from where Palen was living at the time.
The second victim reportedly testified that she met Palen outside a convenience store at Torresdale and Longshore avenues at about midnight on Aug. 3, 2011. He pulled up in a white utility truck, offered to let her charge her phone and offered her a ride home, she claimed. In similar fashion, Palen drove her to the same park locale, beat her to a pulp and assaulted her sexually before fleeing.
She was hospitalized and detailed her ordeal to police that night.
The attacker remained unidentified until March 2013, when Philadelphia police matched his DNA to evidence recovered during another rape investigation in Wisconsin. Local detectives found that Palen had left his wife and children, then moved to Wisconsin where he met and attacked another woman there. Palen was later convicted of the Wisconsin rape and is facing a prison sentence there.
He will be arraigned in Philadelphia’s Common Pleas Court on April 16 on multiple counts of rape, aggravated assault and related offenses. He has been denied bail. ••
