Philadelphia local news, sports, jobs, cars, homes

Category: Crime & Justice

  • City will pay $2,000 toward Philly homicide victims’ funerals in new program

    City will pay $2,000 toward Philly homicide victims’ funerals in new program

    Families of people killed in Philadelphia will be eligible to receive up to $2,000 to help cover funeral costs under a new city program announced Wednesday.

    The initiative, called the Homicide Victim Funeral Assistance (HVFA) Program, will be available to families whose loved ones are killed on or after March 1, city officials said. The money will be paid directly to funeral service providers, with applications reviewed within 48 hours, they said.

    “Grief is not a bill you should have to carry alone,” said Adam Geer, the city’s chief public safety director, during a news conference unveiling the program.

    The program will be administered by the city’s Office of the Victim Advocate, a division of its Office of Public Safety created last year and led by Adara Combs.

    Combs said the initiative grew out of conversations with families who found themselves planning funerals while still in shock, and struggling financially.

    “This program is born out of listening,” she said.

    The average funeral costs $9,100 in Philadelphia, according to data collected by the Senior Rate Registry. When a loved one is murdered, that expense can arrive suddenly and without warning, Geer said.

    To qualify for aid, families must show their loved one was killed in the city and that their death was ruled a homicide, Combs said.

    The city’s program is meant to be a supplement to existing state aid. Families may also apply for up to $6,500 reimbursement through the state’s Victims Compensation Assistance Program, she said.

    The announcement comes as homicides in Philadelphia have fallen sharply in recent years. After peaking at 562 killings in 2021, the city recorded 255 murders last year — its lowest number in 60 years, according to police data. As of Tuesday, 15 people had been killed so far this year.

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said the program is a way for the city to move beyond platitudes.

    “I get so tired of telling people that … our thoughts and prayers are with you,” she said. “We’re sending thoughts and prayers, but they’re literally looking at funeral bills, and they’re trying to figure out, in the midst of this loss, how will we pay?”

    “I am proud that we have been able to come together and use government as a tool to help families in need,” she said.

    To receive additional information or apply after March 1, call 215-686-2115 or email OVAfuneralfund@phila.gov.

  • Quakertown schools are planning counseling and police presence after student arrests at ICE protest

    Quakertown schools are planning counseling and police presence after student arrests at ICE protest

    The Quakertown Community School District is planning to offer counseling and has requested a police presence this week after a student walkout Friday to protest federal immigration enforcement ended in a clash with police and multiple student arrests.

    “Our responsibility is to focus on creating as safe and supportive a learning environment as possible for students and staff to return to school this week,” acting Superintendent Lisa Hoffman said in a statement Sunday night.

    Like districts across the region, Quakertown schools were closed Monday because of snow. But administrators are preparing to reopen amid continuing intense attention from Friday’s walkout, which involved about 35 students from Quakertown Senior High School. Unlike other walkouts at Philadelphia-area schools by students protesting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Quakertown’s protest turned confrontational.

    Videos circulating online appear to show the Quakertown Borough police chief putting a teenage girl in a chokehold during the incident, which police said involved students entering traffic and damaging property and resulted in the arrests of five students and one adult.

    The status of the students who were arrested, including whether they were still in custody, wasn’t clear Monday. A spokesperson for the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office — which is investigating the police response to the protest — said state law barred the office from discussing the teenagers’ cases.

    The spokesperson, Manuel Gamiz, did not respond to questions about the charges, where the students were being held, or when they would be arraigned. While police had said one adult was arrested, Gamiz said that to his knowledge “no adult was ever charged” in connection with the incident.

    Community members organized by the group Upper Bucks United demanded the immediate suspension of the police chief, Scott McElree, at a borough council meeting Monday night. An online petition also calls for McElree’s resignation.

    McElree, who is also the borough manager, did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

    Reached by phone Monday afternoon, borough council vice president James Roberts Jr. hung up on a reporter. He did not answer a second call. Messages left for four other council members were not immediately returned Monday.

    Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said in a statement Monday that “by all accounts, including abundant video evidence, there were no issues at the demonstration until Quakertown police arrived and incited violence.”

    Walczak called for a “full and transparent investigation” and for Quakertown police and McElree “to be held accountable for their actions if the evidence confirms the apparent excessive force, retaliation and false arrest.”

    In response to a series of questions sent Monday, the police department sent a written statement, saying the borough and department were “fully cooperating with the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office concerning this investigation. Until this investigation is complete, neither the Borough nor its Police Department will be commenting on this matter.”

    Tensions led to walkout cancellation

    In her statement Sunday, Hoffman offered more context about Friday’s walkout, which the district had attempted to cancel that morning.

    In the week leading up to the walkout, Hoffman said, administrators met with student organizers “to discuss alternative ways to demonstrate their right to free speech that wouldn’t disrupt the school day.”

    Like “nearly every school district across the region,” Hoffman said, “it is our practice not to endorse or facilitate a student walkout during the school day for any reason. However, we also know it is our responsibility and duty to provide reasonable safety and security support for students and staff members who enter and exit our schools.”

    The district was concerned that students who planned to participate in the walkout reported they were being bullied and threatened, Hoffman said.

    At 9 p.m. Thursday, Hoffman said, “the district received what was deemed a new and concerning threat of violence.” A district spokesperson did not respond to questions Monday, including about the nature of the threat.

    Though the district issued a notice and met with student organizers before school Friday, attempting to cancel the protest, administrators gathered in front of the high school at 11:25 a.m. Friday, preparing for the “the possibility that students would proceed with their walkout despite the safety concerns shared with them,” Hoffman said.

    As students walked off campus — not following any previously discussed route, Hoffman said — district officials heard from community members that some students in town “were engaging in disruptive and unsafe behavior,” Hoffman said.

    At that point, students “were no longer under the district’s custodial control or supervision, and we have almost no legal ability to regulate or investigate their behavior,” she said.

    Hoffman said the district has no additional information on arrests or the investigation. She said administrators and “many of our staff members have been inundated with hateful messages and concerning physical threats to our personal safety via email, phone, and social media” since the walkout.

    “This is simply inexcusable,” Hoffman said. “We have and will continue to report these threats to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.”

    The district is working with the Bucks County Intermediate Unit to develop a “counseling support plan” for students and staff, Hoffman said. She also said it had “communicated with our law enforcement partners for police presence and support as we return to school.”

    Over the weekend, supporters created a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the students’ legal fees, court costs, medical expenses, and other support services. By Monday afternoon, it had collected more than $28,000. The campaign’s organizer did not respond to a request for comment.

  • A Philadelphia man who felt ‘disrespected’ by his wife fatally shot her in Rockledge on Saturday, officials say

    A Philadelphia man who felt ‘disrespected’ by his wife fatally shot her in Rockledge on Saturday, officials say

    A Philadelphia man was charged with first-degree murder and related crimes after he shot and killed his wife in Rockledge, Montgomery County, on Saturday evening, officials said Monday.

    Jose Antonio Luna, 59, was arrested shortly after the shooting, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said.

    Prosecutors say Luna shot his wife, 48-year-old Alisett Schubert, multiple times, killing her, near the intersection of Huntington Pike and Filmore Street that night.

    The incident began when the couple started arguing as they drove home from a party in a silver Nissan, according to the affidavit of probable cause for in Luna’s arrest.

    Schubert was behind the wheel. After she told Luna to get out of the car and walk home, the two began to wrestle over Schubert’s purse, where she kept a .38 caliber revolver that was registered in her name, the affidavit said.

    Luna grabbed the weapon and shot his wife once, the document said. After Schubert yelled “Oh my God” and tried to flee the vehicle, the affidavit said, Luna shot her four more times.

    Luna later told investigators that Schubert had “disrespected him in front of others” at a banquet hall that afternoon, according to the document. He also told investigators he left one round in the gun’s chamber with the intent to later kill himself, the affidavit said.

    A SEPTA bus driver reported the shooting to police, according to the document.

    Around 10 p.m., authorities said, the driver came across the Nissan stalled in the road, and heard two to three gunshots before watching Luna exit the vehicle’s passenger side and pull open the driver’s side door.

    Schubert’s body “slouched” out of the car, the affidavit said.

    The driver watched as Luna fled the scene. Later, when Philadelphia police located him about a mile away near 1200 Rhawn Street, Luna put Schubert’s gun to his head and pulled the trigger, according to the affidavit.

    But the gun was out of ammunition and did not fire. Police arrested Luna without incident.

    Investigators later learned Luna had called Schubert’s mother after the shooting to tell her that her daughter had died, but he did not say how the death occurred, and he told the woman he wanted to kill himself.

    Meanwhile, Schubert was taken to Abington Hospital suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead.

    Schubert had previously told a close friend that Luna was physically and mentally abusing her, the affidavit said. The friend told investigators that she had once seen Luna punch Schubert in the face.

    Prosecutors said Luna had an extensive criminal history and had been arrested “numerous” times for illegal entry into the United States and for reentry after deportation.

    In addition to first-degree murder, Luna was charged with third-degree murder and possessing an instrument of a crime.

    He is being held without bail at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility and is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on March 5.

  • Quakertown High School students arrested during ICE protest. Videos show them bloodied after a confrontation with police.

    Quakertown High School students arrested during ICE protest. Videos show them bloodied after a confrontation with police.

    Several students at Quakertown High School were taken into custody on Friday after a student walkout protesting federal immigration enforcement escalated into a confrontation that left at least one teenager bloodied and in handcuffs, according to witnesses and video footage from the scene.

    School officials said the episode began shortly before noon, when dozens of students left campus without permission to demonstrate along Front Street in opposition to the policies of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. What followed, according to videos posted widely on social media, was a chaotic scene involving students, an unidentified man, and local police officers.

    By late afternoon, authorities had released few details about what prompted officers to intervene or how many students were detained.

    In a letter to parents, Lisa Hoffman, the acting superintendent of the Quakertown Community School District, said 35 students left school grounds at about 11:30 a.m. to stage the protest. She said district officials were informed by the Quakertown Police Department that the students were “engaging in unsafe and disruptive behavior,” though she did not elaborate on what that behavior entailed.

    The school also went on a short lockdown as a precaution, she said.

    Quakertown police contradicted the account offered by school officials, saying in a statement that as many as 50 students were involved in the protest, which “began peacefully” but became dangerous when students entered traffic, threw snowballs, kicked cars, and damaged property, including a car’s sideview mirror.

    “Officers issued additional warnings to maintain civil,” the statement said, before “confrontation escalated, and some individuals assaulted officers.”

    Police said “five to six juveniles and one adult have been taken into custody,” but offered no additional information.

    Videos circulating online offer a fragmented glimpse of the confrontation. In one clip, a man is seen grabbing a teenage girl and placing her in a chokehold. A male student rushes in and strikes the man, after which police officers move in and take the student into custody. Other footage shows protest signs scattered across the sidewalk, speckled with blood, and a teenage girl in handcuffs with blood visible along the side of her face.

    A woman who was dining inside a restaurant along Front Street said she watched the confrontation unfold just outside the window.

    “This man was easily twice her size,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal. “She couldn’t have been much more than 100 pounds.”

    When a male student stepped in to help the girl, she said, the scene quickly spiraled. Another woman in the restaurant recalled that several adults — including police officers — forced the boy to the ground.

    “The situation completely escalated,” said the second woman, who also asked not to be identified out of fear of reprisal. “There were multiple grown men getting in the faces of the children, spit flying out of their mouths.”

    It remains unclear what role the man played in the altercation. Both women said they later saw him drive away from the scene in a police vehicle.

    The statement by police made no mention of the man, nor did it include details about any injuries sustained by the students.

    Messages seeking comment from the school district were not immediately returned Friday afternoon.

    The Buck’s County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Friday that it was aware of the incident and was “gathering information.”

    “We are committed to ensuring public safety and will provide updates if and when legally appropriate,” the office said.

    By late afternoon, the number of students taken into custody had not been disclosed, and school officials had not said whether any would face disciplinary action.

    Videos also showed papers and books scattered on the sidewalk next to dropped and bloodied signs. “These children were thrown around and brutalized by these officers,” said one of the women.

    School officials had been aware of the planned student walk-out, according to the high school’s Facebook page, and canceled it Friday morning.

    “While we respect students’ rights to express their views, our first priority is to ensure a safe and secure environment for all,” House Principal Jason D. Magditch wrote in a letter posted on the Facebook page. “At this time, we believe canceling the protest is the most appropriate course of action in the interest of student safety and well-being.”

  • A Willow Grove man who used insider info to make $617,000 trading stocks was sentenced to two years in prison

    A Willow Grove man who used insider info to make $617,000 trading stocks was sentenced to two years in prison

    A Willow Grove man who made more than $600,000 by trading stocks based on confidential information his then-girlfriend gave him about an impending corporate acquisition was sentenced Friday to two years in federal prison.

    Carlos Sacanell, 59, apologized for his actions before U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone, saying he’d made a “terrible decision” and had “profound regret” for what he did.

    “This action does not represent who I am,” said Sacanell, who pleaded guilty last year to one count of securities fraud.

    Sacanell’s crimes occurred in 2023, prosecutors said, when his longtime partner told him that her company, the Chicago-based Oak Street Health Inc., was about to be acquired by CVS Health.

    The next day, prosecutors said, Sacanell — without his girlfriend’s knowledge — bought hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Oak Street stocks and call options.

    Sacanell adjusted his purchases over the next few weeks as his girlfriend continued sharing occasional insights about whether or not the deal might go through, prosecutors said. The woman was not aware that he was trading on the information she gave him, prosecutors said, but when the acquisition ultimately closed, Sacanell netted about $617,000.

    In April 2023, prosecutors said, the FBI confronted Sacanell — who worked as a scientist — about what they viewed as his suspicious trades, but he denied that he had any insider information about Oak Street or the deal.

    Sacanell was indicted in late 2024. His relationship with his then-girlfriend has since ended, his lawyer said, and he is now expected to report to prison in about two months.

    He is also expected to be deported once his term of incarceration ends, his lawyer said. Sacanell was born and raised in Spain before becoming a lawful permanent resident of the United States, but will now likely be deported due to his conviction.

    Sacanell said he had already repaid about $300,000 worth of his illicit proceeds, and vowed that he would not commit any similar infractions in the future.

    “I regret it every day of my life,” Sacanell said.

  • ‘I was vulnerable’: Women testify against head of Delco addiction nonprofit accused of trading money for sexual favors

    ‘I was vulnerable’: Women testify against head of Delco addiction nonprofit accused of trading money for sexual favors

    The woman, then battling an addiction to heroin, said she sought help at the Opioid Crisis Action Network, a beacon of hope for those struggling with substance abuse disorder in Delaware County.

    But instead of providing compassionate care, Larry Arata, the nonprofit’s founder, offered her gift cards in exchange for oral sex in his car in 2024, the woman testified Thursday in a Delaware County courtroom.

    The experience traumatized her, she said, and within a month she had dropped out of recovery and overdosed.

    “I was still on heroin, and I needed help,” the woman said, her voice breaking as she recalled the encounter. “I didn’t expect to have to do that.”

    As she spoke, Arata, 65, sat in the courtroom for a preliminary hearing in a sweeping prostitution and trafficking case that Delaware County prosecutors brought against him late last year.

    He has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyers said Thursday that they would present a robust defense at trial.

    In emotional testimony, six women took the stand and accused Arata of criminal behavior. The Inquirer is not naming the women because the newspaper does not identify victims of sex crimes without their permission

    One woman said Arata hired her to clean the Opioid Crisis Action Network’s office as she was trying to get sober. Almost immediately, she said, he began complimenting her appearance. Eventually, they began having sex in Arata’s private office at the nonprofit and at a nearby hotel, she said, where he sneaked her in a back door.

    Afterward, she said, Arata would give her a $300 paycheck, as well as extra cash and gift cards.

    Other women who sought the Action Network’s help said Arata made comments about their appearance and offered them financial incentives after sexual encounters in parks, hotels, and in one case, his father’s home.

    Arata founded the Opioid Crisis Action Network after his son died of an overdose in 2017, and he became something of a figurehead for issues surrounding addiction in the suburban county.

    But Arata abused his position of influence, prosecutors said in November as they charged him with multiple counts of trafficking, patronizing prostitutes, promoting prostitution, obstruction, and one count of harassment.

    They said Arata twisted his nonprofit’s mission, using cash, gift cards, and rent payments to elicit sex from vulnerable women who relied on him for help.

    In one case, a woman testified that Arata told after a sexual encounter that “secrets are meant to be kept.” Others said he worried that his wife would find out about the sexual encounters and asked them to delete sexually explicit images they had texted him.

    And one woman — who said Arata had cornered her in his office and tried to kiss her — said that when he later learned that she had spoken to county investigators about the incident, called her a liar and told her to recant.

    Arata’s attorneys did not call any witnesses. They told the judge their client’s alleged behavior did not meet the legal standards for many of charges against him, including trafficking and obstruction.

    After hearing nearly four hours of testimony, Delaware County Court Judge Benjamin Johns said prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence for all charges against Arata to stand.

    Brandi McLaughlin, an attorney for Arata, told reporters that her team would try the case in a “courthouse, not the media.”

  • Man accused of hiding cameras in restrooms at a barbershop in South Jersey

    Man accused of hiding cameras in restrooms at a barbershop in South Jersey

    A 56-year-old man was arrested after he allegedly placed hidden cameras inside restrooms at a barbershop where he worked in Gloucester County, police said Thursday.

    Richard Doerrmann, of Mickleton, N.J., was charged with one count of third-degree invasion of privacy to record intimate body parts without consent, and two counts of fourth-degree invasion of privacy for placing recording devices in public restrooms, Mantua Township police said in a post on Facebook.

    Last Friday, the owner of Gino’s Barbershop at 670 Bridgeton Pike contacted the Mantua police to report that a spy camera had been discovered inside a restroom at his business.

    Detectives determined that Doerrmann, who worked as a barber at the business, had allegedly placed hidden cameras inside the restrooms, which are used by customers, on multiple occasions, police said.

    Police said they executed search warrants at Doerrmann’s residence and for his electronic devices.

    As of Thursday, Doerrmann was being held at the Gloucester County Correctional Facility, records show.

    The owner of the business fully cooperated with investigators, police said, adding that the investigation is ongoing and anyone with information helpful to the case can contact Detective Corporal Jeffrey Krieger at jkrieger@mantuatownship.com.

  • Two rival sex traffickers arrested in Norristown following shooting, police say

    Two rival sex traffickers arrested in Norristown following shooting, police say

    A street shooting in Norristown last week led investigators to discover two sex-trafficking operations that transported women from New York to Montgomery County to engage in prostitution, prosecutors said Thursday.

    A dispute between two men who ran rival enterprises erupted in gunfire on Feb. 13, police said, when one shot the other in the thigh during a confrontation on the 400 block of Sandy Street.

    On Tuesday, authorities arrested both men.

    Efran Flores-Rodriguez, 24, of Norristown, and Fernando Meza-Ramirez, 42, of Corona, Queens, are each charged with trafficking individuals and involuntary servitude. Flores-Rodriguez faces additional charges, including attempted murder, in connection with the shooting.

    Officers responding to reports of gunfire found Meza-Ramirez inside a bullet-riddled Toyota RAV4, police said. He had been shot in the thigh.

    Meza-Ramirez told police that a stolen white Acura TLX had followed him from Lafayette Street to Sandy Street. When he pulled over, he said, the sedan pulled up beside him and someone opened fire. A witness identified Flores-Rodriguez as the shooter, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

    But investigators say the shooting exposed more than a personal feud.

    At the hospital where Meza-Ramirez was treated, officers found business cards in his wallet bearing photographs of scantily clad women posing on beds, according to the affidavit.

    Days later, on Feb. 17, police searched Flores-Rodriguez’s home and encountered a woman from Flushing, Queens, who told them she had worked as a prostitute under his direction last summer.

    She said Flores-Rodriguez, whom she knew as “Guerro,” drove her to Norristown six days a week, provided her a room and charged clients $60 for 10-minute sexual encounters. She told police she sometimes had as many as 15 encounters a day and kept half the money he collected.

    The woman said she also worked this year for Meza-Ramirez, whom she knew as “Leo,” under the same arrangement, according to the affidavit.

    Both men were denied bail at arraignment and are being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

  • Sledgehammer-wielding thieves stole $11,000 worth of Lululemon in Ardmore’s Suburban Square

    Sledgehammer-wielding thieves stole $11,000 worth of Lululemon in Ardmore’s Suburban Square

    Two men have been arrested after breaking into a Lululemon store in Ardmore and allegedly stealing nearly $11,000 in merchandise, police said.

    Quran Harmon, 23, and James Jordan, 49, both of Philadelphia, used a sledgehammer to break through the front door of the Lululemon in the Suburban Square shopping center on Jan. 6 at 1:52 a.m., according to the Lower Merion Township Police Department.

    Within five minutes, surveillance footage shows, Harmon and Jordan cased the Lululemon, broke the front door, and grabbed as much clothing from the men’s section as possible, said Lower Merion Police Superintendent Andrew Block. Afterward, police said, they fled the scene in a U-Haul pickup truck.

    Lower Merion detectives soon identified the suspects and, with the help of Philadelphia police, tied them to a similar sneaker burglary at a Famous Footwear store in Philadelphia the night before.

    Police served a search warrant five days after the robbery at a residence in Philadelphia, where merchandise from the Lululemon and Famous Footwear thefts was recovered, authorities said. Harmon turned himself in to Lower Merion police on Jan. 29 and is being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

    Jordan was arrested on Feb. 6 by Upper Moreland police in connection with a separate theft-related crime and is also being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility while awaiting burglary and theft charges in the previous robberies.

  • State police ID teen killed in Montgomery County crash while allegedly fleeing in stolen vehicle

    State police ID teen killed in Montgomery County crash while allegedly fleeing in stolen vehicle

    Pennsylvania State Police identified the teen who died in a crash while allegedly fleeing from troopers in a stolen vehicle in Montgomery County early Saturday.

    Zachery Carbo, 18, of Norristown, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which happened around 12:10 a.m. on Route 422 eastbound at Route 202 in Upper Merion Township, state police said.

    Two 19-year-old men and one 20-year-old man who were passengers in the Kia Soul, which had been reported stolen in West Norriton Township, were transported to Paoli Hospital for treatment, state police said.

    Troopers had attempted to stop the Kia for traffic violations on eastbound 422 near Lewis Road in Limerick Township.

    The vehicle did not stop and a pursuit ensued, state police said.

    The pursuit ended when the Kia hit a concrete barrier on the right side of the road.

    State police said Wednesday that no charges had been filed and the investigation was continuing.