Police: Man attempts to sexually assault woman inside Spring Garden apartment

PHILADELPHIA (FOX 29) - Police say they are looking for a man who allegedly followed a woman into her apartment and attempted to sexually assault her.

It happened on the 600 block of North Broad Street back on November 17th, around 3:15 in the afternoon.

Police say the man came into contact with the woman in an elevator and followed her to her unit. They say he attacked her, and tried to use items in her apartment to bind her hands and cover her eyes.

Police say the woman was ultimately able to break free and run into the hallway where a neighbor heard her screaming and called 911.

The man hid in the apartment building for approximately 30 minutes before fleeing out onto Broad Street, then east on Wallace Street on foot, police say.

Owner of Lofts 640 on North Broad Street, Eric Blumenfeld, confirmed that the incident happened inside his building.

"This is just a really unfortunate incident that I take full responsibility for," he says.

Blumenfeld says every visitor that walks into the entrance of the building without a key is supposed to be confronted by a front desk employee. The desk is manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

He says in this case, their employee did not follow protocol and they have been fired.

"We've doubled down with our staff and explained this just cannot happen."

Some tenants expressed concerns with Fox 29 that the front gate to walk to the front entrance is broken.

"I pay a lot of money to live here hoping the place would be safe and evidentially it's not, because there's a gate that's open 24 hours a day," says Nick Rubino.

Blumenfeld says the gate is closed during the day regardless, but they expect it to be repaired this week.