NORRISTOWN — A Philadelphia man who authorities said attempted to kidnap a teenager from the Willow Grove Park Mall in Abington Township was found guilty by a jury of a serious crime of holding a young person captive.
Khalilh Jafar Evans, 44, from the 1500 block of Kinsdale Street, showed no visible reaction as the Montgomery County Court jury announced the verdict after hearing two days of evidence and watching surveillance camera footage of Evans' interaction with a 14-year-old girl at the mall around 7 p.m. on July 12, 2023.
A female relative of Evans cried when the jury, consisting of 10 women and two men, announced the verdict after over six hours of discussion.
Judge Wendy G. Rothstein postponed the sentencing so court officials can finish a background investigation report about Evans, who will undergo drug, alcohol and mental health assessments. The judge canceled Evans' bail and he will stay in the county jail until sentencing.
Evans could face a maximum sentence of 5 to 10 years in prison for the offense. However, state sentencing guidelines might allow for a lighter punishment.
“I didn't do anything wrong. I've always been innocent and I'm still innocent,” Evans replied to a reporter's questions as sheriff’s deputies escorted him out of the courtroom after the verdict.
When asked if he had a message for the jury, Evans said, “You all convicted an innocent man.”
Evans chose not to testify during the trial.
With the charge against Evans, Assistant District Attorney Caroline Rose Goldstein argued Evans restrained the teenage girl to substantially interfere with her freedom.
“She's a kid who doesn't understand what's happening. She's a child and she's scared,” Goldstein stated during her closing statement to jurors, referring to recorded footage of the incident.
The girl said she saw Evans as she was on an escalator going from the second level to the first level of the mall. The girl, who became emotional at one point and was allowed to have a comfort dog with her in the witness box, said she was met at the bottom of the escalator by Evans who introduced himself as “Alex,” said he was 25, and asked her to walk with him, extending his arm to try to escort her.
The girl said she told Evans she was 13.
“The suspect was telling the victim that he wanted to put his phone number into her phone,” Abington detectives Jeffrey Anderson and Lieutenant Steve Fink wrote in the arrest affidavit.
The girl managed to use her cellphone to discreetly take a photo of Evans as he gripped her arm, pinned her arm underneath his, and led her across the mall, according to testimony.
“At one point, the victim tried to break free of the suspect’s grasp and he tightened his grip, continuing to walk her through the mall in a direction she did not want to go,” Anderson and Fink alleged.
The girl said that when Evans loosened his hold, she pulled her arm away, stepped back, and then quickly ran away.
During questioning by defense lawyer Danton Lee Moyer, the girl stated that Evans did not threaten her, hurt her, or make any sexual comments.
Moyer suggested that authorities made a quick judgment and that the short interaction was not long enough to be false imprisonment. He also said prosecutors did not have enough evidence to support the charge.
Goldstein disagreed, mentioning the surveillance video footage and stating that the girl was restrained against her will for a substantial period, which can be considered false imprisonment under the law.
Khalilh Evans is being escorted from a Montgomery County courtroom on April 17, 2024, during a break in his trial. (Photo by Carl Hessler Jr. – MediaNews Group)
The second male was identified but not charged with any crimes.
After the girl reported the incident, Abington police shared photos of the suspect with local media to ask for help in identifying him.
Evans turned himself in voluntarily the morning after the incident.
At one point, the jury indicated that they couldn't agree. After the judge gave them further instructions, one female juror refused to continue. She was replaced by an alternate female juror.
Moyer objected to adding the alternate juror to the panel.
A Philadelphia man was found guilty by a jury of falsely imprisoning a minor after trying to abduct a teenage girl from the Willow Grove Park Mall in Abington Township.
