Man convicted of raping 14-year-old girl on her way to school in Reading

A man found guilty of raping a 14-year-old girl at knifepoint on her way to school in Reading has been sentenced to 28 1/2 to 60 years in prison.

Sean Samuels, 40, whose last known residence was in Auburn, Schuylkill County, but who had no last known address, was sentenced last June during a trial before Berks County Judge Eleni Dimitriou Geishauser.

A jury found him guilty of rape, aggravated sexual assault and related offenses in connection with the sexual assault in March 2022.

Samuels was sentenced on Thursday.

It turns out that Samuels was a sexually violent offender and he must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

His sentence was also increased because it was his third conviction for a violent crime, prosecutors said.

He has been in the Berks County Jail since his arrest.

The police issued the following report:

On March 16, 2022, just before 8 a.m., Samuels confronted the girl in the 1200 block of Hill Road as she walked to her school. Investigators did not identify the person.

Samuels rushed towards her, grabbed her arm and told her not to run away.

The victim did not know Samuels, but he told her to come with him. She tried to flag down a car, but he told her not to while threatening her with a knife.

When she resisted, he told her to stop or he would kill her. He raped her, took her cell phone and sweatshirt and left.

The victim ran home and told his mother what had happened. The mother called the police.

At the crime scene, investigators found items that supported the victim’s statement and fingerprints that they believed belonged to Samuels.

Video surveillance footage showed Samuels leaving the crime scene and asking a security guard to make a call using his cell phone.

Police also released surveillance photos to help identify Samuels. He was arrested in Hamburg on March 21, 2022, five days after the attack.

Following his arrest, police and city officials released statements praising police for ending the threat posed by Samuels and solving a horrific incident that had unsettled the community.