A Columbia man convicted of rape and 10 other charges was sentenced up to 60 years in a state correctional institution with lifetime sex offender registration December 13 in Lancaster County Court.

Edwin Davis, 47 of the 800 block of Lancaster Ave, was found guilty by jury in June 2021 for raping and having unlawful contact involving two minors in March 2018.

Police were dispatched to a report of sex offenses that occurred in the 100 block of South 2^nd Street in Columbia on March 30, 2018. The caller had reported seeing a 13-year-old child run from the scene and state that they were raped; the caller also saw Davis adjusting the waistband of his pants behind bushes in the area.

Additionally, Davis then texted a 12-year-old victim in attempts to solicit lewd photos and lure the victim out of their home after the rape occurred.

Davis did not know the victims and had exchanged phone numbers with them after walking past them earlier in the day. Both victims identified the attacker and the clothes he was wearing to police.

Police located Davis about one-half block from the victim’s residence and took him into custody.

Lancaster County Judge Donald Totaro sentenced Davis to 6 ½ to 20 years on the charge of rape by forcible compulsion, 6 ½ to 20 years on the charge of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, and 6 ½ to 20 years on the charge of unlawful contact with a minor to run consecutively for a total aggregate sentence of 19 ½ to 60 years in SCI.

“You are a repeat offender and sexually violent predator,” Totaro stated. “The defendant is an extreme danger to society and incarceration is warranted to protect public safety.”

Davis declined to speak when given two opportunities to do so from the judge.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Ponessa prosecuted the case, asking for consecutive sentences.

“He talked to [the victims], communicated with them and then violently attacked them,” Ponessa said. “The victims have to deal with what the defendant did for the rest of their lives. This is every parent’s worst nightmare for their child to run into a stranger like him.”

Columbia Borough Police Detective Matthew Leddy filed charges.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sean McBryan, semcbryan@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @SeanMcBryanLanc.