A 34-year-old man who committed a "one-month crime spree" before he was caught was convicted yesterday of attemped rape, robbery, threats and a weapons offense stemming from a May 26, 1993, incident.
Gregory Taylor, of 15th Street near Wharton, was also found guilty of robbing a 42-year-old schoolteacher on Lombard Street near 25th, on May 11, 1993, and convicted of forcing his way into the Rodman Street apartment of a 26-year-old woman and trying to rob her about a month later.
The victim of the May 26, 1993, attack told a jury yesterday that her praying persuaded Taylor from raping her in her bed.
"I said, 'God is good and I love God,' " she told the jury and Common Pleas Judge Anne M. Lazarus.
Taylor, who had ransacked the house and shoved the victim's head against the wall several times, then paused.
"I can respect that," Taylor said. He then got off of the woman and ordered her to get up so he could continue to steal items from the home.
A short time later, her husband arrived home to find Taylor holding the knife to his wife's neck, said Assistant District Attorneys Charles Ehrlich and Sheila Woods-Skipper.
" 'Get back or I'll kill your wife,' " Taylor said, according to the husband. Taylor later fled.
"This man engaged in a one-month crime spree, terrorizing women in Center City before being arrested," said Woods-Skipper.
