'Predator' On Women Jailed 15 To 31

The convicted urban terrorist has run out of chances. He's blown plenty in the past.

Mark Smith, 29, of 58th Street near Christian, was sentenced yesterday to 15 to 31 years in jail for robbing and terrorizing three women in the summer of 1998.

"He is a predator," Assistant District Attorney Dino Privitera told Common Pleas Court Judge D. Webster Keogh.

Privitera said that Smith has 20 arrests and eight convictions, including one for robbery when he was a juvenile. "He's been committing crimes since 1981."

One of Smith's victims, a 28-year-old school teacher, said she feared that if Smith was released, "He might kill somebody" during his next holdup.

Privitera said Smith drove around West Philadelphia seaching for women to rob.

He said on July 8 Smith held up a 30-year-old University of Pennsylvania graduate student as she was carrying groceries at 42nd and Pine streets.

The second holdup occurred on July 22, when Smith used his car to block a 34-year-old woman inside her vehicle, then aimed a shotgun at her head at 42nd and Spruce streets.

On July 28, Smith mugged a teacher at 43rd and Walnut streets.

During Smith's trial, when one of the victims recalled Smith's crooked teeth, he was asked to smile and display them to Keogh. Smith wasn't smiling when he heard the sentence.