DA BRANDS MAN A SEX PREDATOR

George Philips, 34, a Bayside real estate broker is a sexual predator who preyed on young women and girls in a series of kidnappings, rapes and sexual assaults, charged a prosecutor yesterday.  Armed with a starter's pistol and wearing a black ski mask, he attacked five times in eastern Queens in 1996 and 1997.  One girl was just 15 years old.  While walking alone in the Floral Park, Bellerose and Whitestone areas, young women would be forced by Philips into his black Acura, he raped two of them, Assistant District Attorney Frank DeGaetano said in his opening statement.  Defense attorney Thomas Liotti said he was framed by police and his estranged wife, who was involved in a bitter matrimonial clash with him.  Liotti also said police planted evidence in Philips' car after his September 1997 arrest.  Police formed a joint task force to catch the assailant after a series of sex attacks in Queens and Long Island.  They got their big break on September 3rd, 1997, when a 16 year old Long Island girl fought off a man wearing a ski mask who tried to force her into his black car.  She took note of his license plate and remembered four numerals.  Police were immediately alerted by her and less than three hours later, Philips was stopped by police in his car near his Bell Boulevard home.  Philips has been charged with five attacks by Queens police and Nassau County authorities charged him with four, two in Williston Park, one in Mineola and one in New Hyde Park.  The charges in Nassau are pending.

(New York)