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  • They served nearly three decades in prison for murder. Today, a Philadelphia judge overturned their convictions.

    They served nearly three decades in prison for murder. Today, a Philadelphia judge overturned their convictions.

    Three men who spent nearly three decades in prison for the 1997 stabbing death of a Northwest Philadelphia woman had their murder convictions overturned Tuesday after prosecutors, defense attorneys, and a judge agreed that key evidence in the case against them was unreliable.

    Marc Brittingham, Rasheed Turner, and Jermal Shuler will be set free after a Common Pleas Court judge vacated their convictions and life sentences, dismantling a prosecution that relied heavily on a timeline of the victim’s death that prosecutors now say can no longer be trusted.

    At trial in 1998, Bennett Preston, an assistant medical examiner, told jurors Essie Mae Thomas had likely died on the evening of Nov. 8, 1997 — a time frame prosecutors used to bolster the testimony of a sole witness who provided a direct link between the men and the killing.

    But the Conviction Integrity Unit of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office later determined that Preston’s findings and testimony were not reliable. Experts tapped by both defense attorneys and prosecutors found that Thomas died at least a day later than Preston said she did.

    Common Pleas Court Judge Jennifer Schultz said that information would likely have changed the outcome of the trial had jurors heard it at the time.

    After Schultz vacated the convictions and sentences, prosecutors withdrew the charges, clearing the way for the men’s release after nearly 28 years in prison.

    The case marks the first triple exoneration secured by the conviction integrity unit, which since its creation in 2018 has helped overturn a growing number of convictions tied to flawed forensic testimony, withheld evidence, and other investigative failures.

    Inside the courtroom Tuesday, relatives and supporters wept quietly as Schultz delivered her ruling. One woman rocked back and forth in her seat, sobbing. Others embraced and cheered after the judge formally dismissed the case.

    Family members declined to comment afterward.

    The attorneys — from the Innocence Project, DLA Piper, Pennsylvania Innocence Project, and the Exoneration Project — released a joint statement after the hearing, saying the three men had “maintained their innocence while serving time for a crime they did not commit.

    “The absence of physical evidence, along with new evidence discovered during the joint investigation, makes clear that this wrongful conviction should never have occurred,” the statement said.

    District Attorney Larry Krasner, who addressed reporters outside the courthouse, said the men had been “robbed of a fair trial, simply put.”

    He added that while the men’s convictions had been vacated, “that does not necessarily mean they are innocent. It means their convictions lacked integrity.”

    Thomas was found dead inside her home. Prosecutors contended at trial that Brittingham, Turner, and Shuler went to her house to rob her and ended up killing her.

    The prosecution’s case, led by Assistant District Attorney Carlos Vega, depended heavily on establishing when Thomas died. Vega could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.

    Preston testified that her injuries and condition indicated she was likely killed on Nov. 8 — a timeline prosecutors said matched the account of a witness who placed the three men at the house that day.

    But according to reviews by two forensic pathologists, Preston failed to account for several things that contradicted his conclusion, including evidence that rigor mortis may still have been developing — not disappearing — when Thomas’ body was examined. The experts concluded it was extremely unlikely Thomas died on Nov. 8.

    Defense attorneys argued in court filings that without Preston’s testimony, the case against the men largely unraveled. There was little physical evidence tying them to the killing, the lawyers said, and no DNA evidence linked them to the crime scene. Preston’s testimony about the timing of her death, they said, was used to prop up prosecutors’ otherwise unstable sole eyewitness, Wadia Brown, who admitted she was high on crack cocaine on the night she said she saw the three men on Thomas’ porch around that time.

    Efforts to reach Preston were unsuccessful Tuesday.

    Over the years, questions emerged about Preston’s work in multiple criminal cases, prompting renewed scrutiny from defense attorneys and prosecutors. In recent years, the conviction integrity unit began reexamining cases in which his testimony played a significant role, said unit supervisor Matthew Stiegler.

    Many of the specifics underlying the questions about Preston’s findings remain unclear. Court filings in the case were heavily redacted. Stiegler said Tuesday “what broke the case open” was the discovery that disciplinary action had previously been taken against Preston, but did not provide further details.

    Schultz concluded that the evidence uncovered by prosecutors and defense attorneys was crucial to the outcome of the trial and warranted a new one — a prosecution the district attorney’s office said it would no longer pursue.

  • A Bucks County music teacher and serial molester of 18 boys sentenced to decades in prison

    A Bucks County music teacher and serial molester of 18 boys sentenced to decades in prison

    Over three decades, in music shop backrooms and, sometimes, his own home, Timothy Shay molested 18 boys whose parents trusted him to teach them piano and saxophone lessons.

    On Tuesday, as Shay, 50, was sentenced to 18 to 54 years in state prison, Bucks County Court Judge Stephen Corr expressed outrage over his crimes.

    “You stole from these boys their childhoods, you stole from them their love of music, you stole from them their ability to love, and you stole from them their adulthood, because they are still living with this,” Corr said.

    “Quite frankly, if someone hadn’t spoken up and given these men the courage to speak up, you might still be out there perpetrating your crime on other victims,” he added.

    Shay, of Middletown Township, pleaded no contest in September to corruption of minors and related crimes in connection with the assaults, which began in the late 1990s and ended only with his arrest in February 2025, prosecutors said. That arrest came after one victim, decades after his abuse occurred, filed a police report.

    For years, Shay advertised himself as a piano and saxophone teacher based at music stores throughout Central Bucks County, including D-Town Guitars & Skateboards in Doylestown and Coyle’s in Richboro, according to First Assistant District Attorney Kristin McElroy.

    During those lessons, she said, Shay groomed his young students. The 18 men who came forward described a similar pattern: Shay targeted them when they were preteens, and would start each lesson by massaging their wrists as a way of “warming them up” before gradually moving his hands toward other parts of their body.

    In subsequent lessons, they said, Shay touched their genitals or performed sex acts. Some said Shay would use neurolinguistic programming to put them into a meditative state before groping them. Others said Shay touched them dozens of times.

    One man who spoke in court Tuesday said the abuse ended only when he begged his parents to stop sending him to music lessons.

    “Timothy Shay took his position of trust with me as a child, in a closed setting, to satisfy his own perversions,” he said. “Today marks a sense of closure I thought I’d never receive.”

    Another man said his ability to form lasting relationships or be intimate with women was destroyed by Shay’s abuse. He struggled, he said, to trust even his family.

    A third told the judge Shay was a friend of his family’s and molested him while serving as his babysitter. He dropped out of school, struggled with drug addiction, and isolated himself from his family, he said.

    “Tim Shay stole my self-esteem, my libido, and my faith in God and left me with a head full of passive ideation about my death,” he said.

    Shay’s manipulation extended to the boys’ parents, according to McElroy, the prosecutor. He would wait until their parents trusted him, and no longer attended the music lessons, before beginning to assault the boys.

    “The families were literally paying this defendant to enrich their children’s lives through music, and he took it as an opportunity to abuse them,” she said. “It speaks to the level of cruelty he showed.”

    And she noted that as county detectives were investigating Shay, they found a cache of child pornography on his cell phone.

    Shay’s attorney, Stephanie Moyer, asked the judge for leniency, noting that Shay had been the victim of sexual abuse as a child.

    But Corr was not swayed, and fashioned a prison sentence for Shay that took into account each victim.

    “You don’t get a bulk discount for coming here with 18 victims,” Corr said. “We have to bring justice for each of these men.”

  • Two Jenkintown ‘psychics’ will face a county judge in $600,000 theft case

    Two Jenkintown ‘psychics’ will face a county judge in $600,000 theft case

    Two Montgomery County women, in times of personal turmoil, turned to two self-proclaimed psychics in Jenkintown for comfort and guidance.

    Instead, they testified Monday, Gina Marks and Steve Nicklas strung them along, persuaded them to hand over a combined $600,000 in money and luxury goods, and threatened to attack and blackmail them when they tried to get the items back.

    One woman said at Nicklas’ preliminary hearing that she felt compelled to work with them because they told her that her ex-wife was being targeted by “black magic” and that her life was in danger.

    “As someone who loved my wife and my family, I felt like I had no choice,” she said. “I wanted to save them.”

    District Judge R. Emmett Madden dismissed four charges against Nicklas, 41, including racketeering and dealing in unlawful proceeds, but held him for trial on theft and related crimes. Marks, his paramour and business partner, waived her preliminary hearing and will face a county judge on all of the charges.

    Marks, 53, has been convicted of similar fraud before, in Florida and Maryland, including stealing $340,000 from clients she promised to rid of “curses.”

    Nicklas’ attorney, Elizabeth Lippy, argued that Marks, not he, was the one who ran Jenkintown Psychic Visions and directed the transfer of money and high-priced items, including designer purses and watches.

    “This is not the Jenkintown mafia,” Lippy said, referencing the use of racketeering charges to disrupt organized crime rings. “This is a storefront psychic who advertised her own abilities, and giving money to Mr. Nicklas doesn’t create a corrupt organization.”

    Assistant District Attorney Christian Taffe presented evidence that between 2022 and their arrest in October, Marks and Nicklas encouraged the two women to make multiple wire transfers to bank accounts and a CashApp account operated by Nicklas. Marks also instructed them to withdraw large amounts of cash and to store the money in pillowcases as part of various rituals with supposedly paranormal purposes.

    One woman said she hired Marks in hopes that her ex-fiancé, who had called off their wedding, would reach out to her and come back into her life.

    She said Marks initially told her to keep the money in her home, but later asked her to bring it to her and Nicklas in person as part of a “marriage ritual.”

    That ritual, the woman said, also required a $6,000 Chanel purse that Marks told her to purchase after asking her to extend a higher line of credit with her bank.

    Marks, she said, promised to return both the purse and money to her.

    “She told me not to worry about money,” the woman said, “because ‘money comes and money goes.’”

    After months of cajoling Marks, the woman received a fraction of her money and the purse, which she was able to return to the store for a partial refund.

    When the women pressed for more money to be returned, she said Marks threatened to contact her ex and create fake social media accounts for her, using personal information she had shared during their psychic readings.

    The other victim said Marks placed similar demands on her: In addition to a pillowcase full of money, she was directed to buy expensive Rolex and Cartier watches, again as part of a ritual.

    When the woman tried to get her money back, Marks became irate, she testified. Nicklas would then join the conversation, telling her to “trust the process” and promising that everything would be returned to her if she completed the ritual.

    Lippy, Nicklas’ attorney, asserted that no theft had occurred. Both women, she said, believed in the paranormal and had agreed to pay for psychic services.

    “Both of these victims have free will,” she said. “When a psychic promises their services, it’s a service nonetheless.”

  • Tredyffrin residents are concerned over the police response to the suspect who allegedly shot and killed a woman in a random attack

    Tredyffrin residents are concerned over the police response to the suspect who allegedly shot and killed a woman in a random attack

    Residents in Tredyffrin, where a woman was killed in a random act of violence last weekend, said Monday that more could have been done in the hours leading up to the shooting and criticized the township’s lack of communication before and after the crime.

    The remarks were brought before the township’s elected board of supervisors in the first public meeting since Steve Jahn, 44, was arrested and charged with murdering Megan Nieberle, a 53-year-old nurse, while she was driving home from seeing friends late in the evening of March 7. She died the next day.

    Residents were chilled by the fact that, in the hours before Jahn killed Nieberle, he had called the police himself, telling them he was being followed by undercover officers, according to authorities. Officers, who said Jahn was showing “frantic behavior,” escorted him to Paoli Hospital for a voluntary mental health evaluation but let him leave when he requested it, knowing he legally owned firearms and had one with him. Jahn was arrested and charged with murder the day after the shooting.

    “We can frame this a lot of ways: It was a random act of violence,” said resident Joe Maugeri. “But we could also frame it as: Was it a preventable act of violence? And I think that’s the question that all of us are thinking. Were there tools that police had? Were there things that could have been done?”

    Authorities said that Jahn had no connection with Nieberle, a Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia nurse and mother of three. A few hours after leaving the hospital, Jahn allegedly drove to the intersection of Contention Lane and Old State Road in Berwyn and shot Nieberle from his car.

    Passersby who saw Nieberle’s crashed car called police, who rushed her to Paoli Hospital.

    Her death has “left a profound void in the hearts of the many who were fortunate enough to know and love her,” loved ones wrote in her obituary last week. Nieberle’s “warmth, humor, and loyalty made her a cherished presence in the community,” the obituary says.

    In his opening remarks Monday, board chairman David Miller said that officers were limited in what they could do that day. Pennsylvania has no “red flag” law, which allows for the temporary removal of lawfully owned guns when the owner appears at risk for danger.

    “Now I’m not saying a red flag law would have changed what happened on [that] night. I can’t know that, but certainly would have given our police another tool to help manage the situation,” Miller said.

    Such a measure has repeatedly failed to get enough support in politically divided Harrisburg. Another version of the bill was introduced this session.

    Democratic State Rep. Melissa Shusterman, who represents the area, said in a statement that there had been an increase in interest in extreme risk protection orders in the community.

    “The loss of our neighbor was tragic, and while we may not know for certain if an ERPO would have prevented this senseless tragedy, we do know they help to reduce gun violence and keep our communities safer,” she said.

    Residents also criticized the township for not notifying the community of the possible danger, saying they went more than 30 hours before knowing Jahn had been arrested.

    “What are the protocols and policies that we have in place around notification when things like this happen?” resident Katie Angstadt asked. “From what we’ve understood is that there was someone in our community who was very dangerous, armed for six or seven hours, and we were not notified.”

    Superintendent of Police T. Michael Beaty said he understood why the incident was concerning.

    “Questions about firearm laws and policy are ultimately determined by legislators at the state and federal levels. Our role as law enforcement is to enforce the laws as they exist and to investigate crimes thoroughly when they occur,” he told them. “That said, when tragedies like this happen, it often leads to important conversations about how we can strengthen public policy, improve crisis intervention, and ensure officers and communities have the tools that they need to prevent violence whenever possible.

    “This is a very devastating situation, which has left a profound impact on many of our community members. At this time, my deepest condolences are with Megan’s family and loved ones as they navigate this unexpected loss. While I cannot speak on the timeline or specifics of the investigation, I know it remains ongoing.”

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • Ocean County College dean charged with sex assault of minor, prosecutors say

    Ocean County College dean charged with sex assault of minor, prosecutors say

    A man who recently served as a dean at Ocean County College was charged with sexually assaulting a minor, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office said Monday.

    James Hadley, of Barnegat in Ocean County, was arrested Friday when he allegedly traveled to Pleasantville in Atlantic County to meet the juvenile for a sex act, the prosecutor’s office said. Hadley was described as 66 years old, but public records indicate that he is 65.

    Earlier this year, Hadley became the dean of the School of Business and Social Sciences at Ocean County College.

    In an emailed statement Monday night, the college said it was informed by law enforcement on Friday afternoon about “the situation regarding James Hadley.”

    The statement continued: “Upon receiving this information, we took immediate action and placed Mr. Hadley on a suspension and restricted him from campus. An interim dean has been appointed.”

    Ocean County College said it has “no record of complaints or reports concerning his conduct while employed with our College. As an open active investigation is pending, the College will not be offering further comment at this time. We are fully cooperating with any police inquiry.”

    The prosecutor’s office said that based on three alleged incidents this month, Hadley was charged with second-degree sexual assault of a victim under the age of 16, second-degree luring a minor to commit a sexual act, third-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and fourth-degree criminal sexual contact.

    The investigation showed Hadley had previously met the child to engage in sexual acts that he paid the child to perform, the prosecutor’s office said.

    The case, which remains open, was investigated by the Pleasantville Police Department with assistance from the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Victims Unit.

  • Baby killed in ambulance crash was being driven to hospital by her grandfather, sources say

    Baby killed in ambulance crash was being driven to hospital by her grandfather, sources say

    An infant who died in a crash involving a private ambulance early Sunday morning was being driven to the hospital by her grandfather, who had jumped behind the wheel of the emergency vehicle parked at the family’s home after the baby became unresponsive, sources said.

    Robert Coleman was trying to rush the baby and her mother to a hospital around 5:15 a.m. after the child was found in distress inside their Frankford house, said a law enforcement source who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

    Police said Coleman, 51, had been drinking — and did not turn on the ambulance’s flashing lights or siren before he sped through a red light at the intersection of Torresdale and Harbison Avenues and collided with a sedan.

    The mother and baby, who the source said were not restrained, were ejected through the windshield of the ambulance, police said.

    The 2-month-old infant, Marian Harris, was declared dead shortly after the crash at an area hospital. Her 32-year-old mother, whom police did not identify, was critically injured with severe head trauma, they said.

    It was not immediately clear why the ambulance, owned by Ambulance Express Inc. or Medstar EMS, was parked at the family’s house or whether the grandfather worked for the company or had experience driving emergency vehicles.

    Police said Sunday that the driver would be charged with driving under the influence and related crimes.

    District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a statement Sunday that no charges had been filed, however. He added that the investigation into the crash “may take some time” but that “we are committed to a fair, appropriate and just outcome.”

  • A Wynnefield man’s title-washing scheme put 65 luxury cars in the hands of criminals, AG says

    A Wynnefield man’s title-washing scheme put 65 luxury cars in the hands of criminals, AG says

    For a little over a year, Adam Richardson was known among local car thieves as “the title guy,” state investigators said Monday. They could steal a car, visit Richardson’s title shop and resell it, either to a coconspirator or a unwitting bystander.

    From his office on Golf Road in Wynnefield, Richardson, 40, created false title, registration, and insurance documents for luxury vehicles stolen from New Jersey, Philadelphia, and its suburbs, including a Ferrari Portofino worth $260,000 and a bevy of Mercedes, BMWs, and similar vehicles.

    All told, Richardson facilitated the illegal transfer of 65 vehicles, the street value of which is nearly $4 million, according to state Attorney General Dave Sunday.

    Richardson was arrested Friday and charged with racketeering, forgery, tampering with public records, and related crimes.

    Sunday, speaking at a news conference in Northeast Philadelphia, said Richardson’s actions — referred to as “title washing” — created “a veil” behind which criminals were able to operate.

    Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said Monday that the title washing of stolen vehicles allows criminals to operate undetected throughout the state.

    “What should be most concerning about this conduct to individuals and families in our communities is that title washing enables criminals to move in and out of communities without being detected by law enforcement,” he said.

    Sunday declined to disclose whether the 37 vehicles recovered by Pennsylvania State Police were involved in other crimes, but he said that title washing is often linked to drug trafficking and other violent crimes.

    The state’s investigation into Richardson is ongoing, he said.

    Richardson remained in custody Monday in Dauphin County, denied bail due to the extent of his alleged crimes. There was no indication he had hired an attorney.

    He will be prosecuted in Central Pennsylvania, investigators said, given his abuse of his power as a third-party contractor eligible to do business with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

    State Police investigators began investigating Richardson in May 2024, when a trooper at the Trevose Station and Barracks impounded a BMW X7 that he suspected held a fraudulent title, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Richardson’s arrest.

    The vehicle had been registered in South Carolina, using a VIN that did not conform with the standard for that state and possessed a fake insurance policy, the affidavit said.

    The true VIN, investigators said, matched a car reported stolen a month earlier in Montville Township in western New Jersey.

    Investigators later interviewed a confidential informant who had facilitated the resale of the car. The informant had gotten the car, knowing it was stolen, from a man who told him to see Richardson, identifying him as “the 24-hour title guy” who had a reputation to meet sellers “anywhere and anytime,” the affidavit said.

    The informant told troopers that Richardson helped him put the car in another person’s name, using a photo of their driver’s license.

    The investigation into Adam Richardson, codenamed “Operation Hot Wheels,” found that he helped facilitate the sale of luxury cars, including multiple Mercedes sedans.

    Using the unique identification number issued to Richardson’s business by PennDOT, investigators were able to identify the 65 cars involved in the title-washing scheme.

    During the investigation, investigators spoke with multiple vehicle owners who said they had been paid money in exchange to have the stolen vehicles registered in their names, despite never meeting Richardson, visiting his business or driving the vehicles, according to the affidavit.

    Previous audits by PennDOT in 2022 and 2023 found that his title business was violating multiple laws, including issuing plates to salvage vehicles and selling cars without a license.

  • 11-year-old boy fatally shot his mother’s boyfriend in Southwest Philadelphia, police say

    11-year-old boy fatally shot his mother’s boyfriend in Southwest Philadelphia, police say

    An 11-year-old boy shot and killed his mother’s boyfriend during a fight in her Southwest Philadelphia home Thursday evening, police said.

    They did not identify the child because of his age.

    Officers were called to the scene at a rowhouse on the 1100 block of South Peach Street around 11:30 p.m., police said. There they found a 30-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound to the face in a back bedroom on the second floor.

    Police later identified the man as Jaimeer Jones-Walker of Lansdowne.

    Chief Inspector Scott Small said that based on preliminary evidence, police believe Jones-Walker showed up at the home, where the woman lives with family, and began to argue and physically assault her.

    In response, he said, the child pulled a semiautomatic handgun and fired one shot, striking Jones-Walker.

    Jones-Walker is not the boy’s father, Small said.

    The gun was registered to the child’s mother, according to police, who are continuing to investigate the shooting.

    The boy and his mother are cooperating with authorities, Small said.

    The stretch of South Peach Street was quiet Friday morning, and neighbors walking along the block or sitting outside said they did not recall hearing gunshots Thursday night.

    Neighbors said they often saw the woman with her daughter and son outside the home, and occasionally saw Jones-Walker, too.

    Incidents in which a child fatally shoots an adult are rare, Small said.

    “It’s unusual,” he said.

    However, pediatricians have warned that children are increasingly gaining access to firearms at home, often with deadly consequences.

    Suicide rates among young people have surged in recent years, in part due to unsecured firearms, experts with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia said in a 2024 report.

    In Philadelphia, the number of people 18 and younger who have shot themselves soared from 2 in 2019 to 20 in 2021, and the number has remained elevated.

    Children as young as 2 are strong enough to pull the trigger of a gun, pediatricians said, underscoring the need for parents of young children to secure their firearms using gun locks and storage safes.

  • Immigrant living in Philadelphia illegally voted in 2024 federal election, authorities say

    Immigrant living in Philadelphia illegally voted in 2024 federal election, authorities say

    An undocumented West African immigrant who federal authorities say has been living in Philadelphia for more than two decades cast a ballot in the 2024 federal election — and may have voted in at least six other elections, federal authorities said.

    Mahady Sacko was charged with fraudulent voting, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. If convicted, he could face up to five years in federal prison.

    Investigators said Sacko registered to vote in 2005, affirming on the registration form that he was a U.S. citizen. According to the affidavit, he went on to vote in five federal general elections and two primary elections over the next two decades.

    Prosecutors charged him only with casting a ballot in the 2024 election.

    Sacko had been ordered deported to Mauritania, in Northwest Africa, by an immigration judge in 2000, the affidavit said. But federal authorities never carried out the order because Sacko did not have a valid Mauritanian passport. Instead, immigration officials placed him under supervision, requiring him to regularly report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    The charges against him come amid political attention on allegations that people who are not U.S. citizens are voting rampantly in American elections — a frequent talking point among conservative politicians and commentators. President Donald Trump has pushed federal officials to amp up efforts to prosecute undocumented immigrants who vote.

    But election experts and government investigations have consistently found that such cases are rare. Studies examining tens of millions of ballots have identified only a handful of suspected instances of such voting — a fraction of a percent of votes cast, according to research by the Brennan Center for Justice.

    Only U.S. citizens may vote in federal elections. Voters must attest to their citizenship when registering, and falsely claiming citizenship can lead to criminal prosecution and deportation.

    Voting records show that Sacko registered as a Democrat, though the affidavit does not specify which candidates he supported in the elections in which investigators say he voted.

    A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Sacko had been released on bail after an initial appearance on Thursday. She did not provide the bail amount.

  • Body found on Central Bucks West practice field, school officials say

    Body found on Central Bucks West practice field, school officials say

    A corpse was discovered on a Central Bucks West High School practice field on Wednesday night, school officials said.

    Police discovered the body on Pettine Field, near the edge of the Doylestown school’s campus, the officials said.

    Officials did not provide information about the identity, gender, or age of the deceased. Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    A spokesperson for the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said the office had not been assigned to investigate the death as of Thursday afternoon, and that it did not appear to be the result of foul play.

    The person who was found dead was homeless, the spokesperson said.

    Interim Superintendent Charles Malone and principal Lyndell Davis said in a joint statement that there was no threat to the safety of students or staff.

    The school campus is secure and police are investigating, their statement said.