Safety violations at Philadelphia-area nursing homes have led to nearly $5.3 million in fines since 2023, an Inquirer review of federal data shows, with almost half of the region’s 182 facilities facing financial penalties.
The Bristol Township nursing home,where an explosion last monthkilled three people, topped a list of nursing homes fined in Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Bucks County, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) data.
The facility was fined a totalof $418,000 for two sets of violations in 2024 when it was known as Silver Lake Healthcare Center. The nursing home was renamed Bristol Health & Rehab Center last month, following an ownership change shortly before the explosion.
Six-figure penalties are not uncommon in the region. More than 22% of the 85 facilities fined had penalties greater than $100,000. The violations cited concerns ranging from noncompliant fire extinguishers to life-threatening hazards, such as allowing a resident to overdose on illegal narcotics.
Accela Rehab And Care Center at Springfield in Montgomery County had the most citations for health deficiencies in the Philly-area — 122 total.
Edenbrook of Yeadon in Delaware County had the most fire safety violations with 60.
Pennsylvania regulators inspectnursing homes annually to ensure compliance with state requirements and once every 15 months for compliance with federal regulations, said Neil Ruhland, a spokespersonfor the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
The amount of a fine depends on the severity of a violation, with bigger fines when people are harmed; the number of residents impacted by the violation; and how long the facility was out of compliance.
Nursing homes cited fordeficiencies are required to develop a plan of correction, which is reviewed and monitored by the state. If the facility continues to be out of compliance, it may face penalties, including fines and ultimately could be terminatedfrom Medicare and Medicaid, though that’s rare.
Here’s a look at federal fines and citations at nursing homes across Southeastern Pennsylvania since 2023, according to CMS.
window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}});
When Jackie Fegley, a former nun, got married 51 years ago, money was tight. So she borrowed a dress from a friend.
And when her husband looked at her nurse’s salary the first year he did her taxes, he said: “Do you know you’re borderline poverty?”
But all that changed over the ensuing decades, and on Friday, Jackie and her husband Bill Fegley Jr., who made his career in accounting, gave a $5 million gift to Neumann University. Jackie is a 1971 graduate of Neumann — then called Our Lady of Angels College.
It’s the largest single gift Neumann — a Catholic university in Aston, Delaware County — has received from an individual, and the university in recognition named its nursing college The Jacquelyn Wilson Fegley ’71 College of Nursing.
“Bill and I were both lucky to receive a good education,” said Jackie, 81, who lives in Blue Bell with her husband, a Drexel University graduate. “So we decided that’s where we’d really like to give our money.”
Chris Domes, president of Neumann University
Neumann President Chris Domes said $4.5 million will be used for undergraduate nursing scholarships for students with the most need and highest achievement, and the other $500,000 for lab equipment. The scholarships will begin to be awarded in the fall, with 22 to 25 students benefiting each year and continuing to get the funds over four years.
Nursing is the largest major at Neumann, with 368 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled. That’s about 17% of the 2,174-student body.
“If the scholarships give somebody an opportunity to change their life, it’s amazing,” said Bill, 78, who started his public accounting career with Arthur Young and then founded his own firm, Fegley & Associates, in 1975.
Domes said he hopes the gift encourages others to invest in higher education.
“It sends a signal that Neumann is a place that is financially strong and getting stronger,” he said. “It’s a real sign from Bill and Jackie that they believe in what we are doing here.”
Neumann University President Chris Domes (from left) and his wife Mary Domes, William Fegley Jr. and his wife Jacquelyn Fegley, of Blue Bell and Neumann’s Nursing Health Sciences Dean Theresa Pietsch at Neumann University in Aston, Pa. on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026.
Born in Chester, Jackie said she grew to admire the Franciscan sisters at her local parish and stayed in touch with them through high school. When she graduated from Notre Dame High School in Moylan in 1962, she joined the order.
During her decade there, she taught grade school, including one year at an orphanage where the children ranged in age from 3 to 9. She said that’s when she started to think she wanted a family.
She got her bachelor’s degree while in the order, first taking classes at St. Joseph’s University and then moving over to Our Lady of Angels when it opened. She was part of the college’s second nursing graduating class.
“I think there were 10 of us in the class,” she said, including other nuns and lay people. “It was a wonderful experience integrating everyone together.”
After leaving the convent, she worked as a nurse at Holy Redeemer Hospital in Meadowbrook and Nazareth Hospital in Northeast Philadelphia. In January 1974, she met Bill, who grew up in Tamaqua, at a dance at a local pub. In September of that year, they married.
They have five children, now ages 40 to 50, who work as accountants, a personal trainer, a doctor, and a minimart operator.
Jackie has remained in contact with the sisters through the years.
“I love the sisters,” she said. “I still consider myself a Franciscan, just not a Franciscan sister.”
Bill — whose accounting firm has since merged with Morison Cogen LLP, where he continues to serve as a partner — has served on the foundation board for the Sisters of Saint Francis and has chaired it for about four-and-a-half years. And nine months ago, he joined Neumann’s board of trustees. He also has served as a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct professor at Drexel and Pennsylvania State University.
The couple has visited Neumann to see how the educational program has grown and were pleased to see its Franciscan spirit thriving.
“I was really thrilled to see that this was how it was progressing,” Jackie said.
The couple attended the naming celebration and gift announcement at Neumann on Friday.
“We’re just pleased that God put us in a position that we’re able to do this,” Bill said.
A group seeking to open a charter school on the Valley Forge Military Academy campus has withdrawn its application, citing a move by Radnor Township to take some of the land by eminent domain.
The board of the proposed Valley Forge Public Service Academy says it plans to resubmit its application to the Radnor school board once the township’s plan to take 14 acres by eminent domain “has been clarified sufficiently to ensure the welfare and safety” of potential students and staff.
Township officials say they want to prevent more development around North Wayne. At a meeting last week, Radnor Commissioner Jack Larkin said the township had reached out to military academy officials to negotiate a deal, but had not heard back.
Alan Wohlstetter, a charter school consultant who is backing the proposed Valley Forge charter, said the move to use eminent domain was “clearly not something we could have anticipated.”
“Clarification is now needed on a number of items in order for us to proceed with our application,” Wohlstetter said in a statement Thursday.
It was the latest plan for a charter school — a school that is publicly funded but privately managed — to rent facilities from the military academy.
The Radnor school board — which like other Pennsylvania school boards has the power to approve or deny applications for new charters seeking to open in their districts — has rejected two previous charter proposals at the military academy campus.
In pursuing eminent domain, Radnor officials say they are considering taking 14 acres to build a replacement for the township’s recreation center, along with a park.
A video still of Radnor Commissioner Jack Larkin speaking at a Jan. 5 township meeting regarding the possible taking of 14 acres of Valley Forge Military Academy through eminent domain.
While Larkin said he did not believe the plan would conflict with the proposed charter school, Wohlstetter said the charter’s backers needed clarity on which acres would be affected, and how the plan would impact traffic and parking.
The uncertainty impairs the charter’s ability to pre-enroll students, Wohlstetter said — adding that the charter wants to be “good partners to the Radnor community.”
Wohlstetter said the charter would resubmit its application to the school board “at a future date.” The proposed charter would enroll students in grades six to 12, with a focus on preparing them for careers in public service fields like law enforcement, firefighting and EMS.
A week after authorities arrested Jonathan Christian Gerlach on charges of stealing human remains from Mount Moriah Cemetery, the consequences of the case continue to unfold — from a small police department fielding frantic pleas from families to a coroner’s office now responsible for safeguarding more than 100 unidentified bones and body parts.
Since the arrest, the Yeadon Police Department has been inundated with calls and emails from relatives fearful that the graves of their loved ones were disturbed, Police Chief Henry Giammarco said. The remains recovered during the investigation — including skulls, bones, and other human fragments — were seized from Gerlach’s basement and from a separate storage unit, both in Ephrata, and are now in the custody of the Lancaster County Coroner’s Office.
Gerlach is accused of systematically removing skulls and bones from graves at Mount Moriah, a sprawling historic cemetery that spans Philadelphia and Yeadon Borough. The case has drawn national attention, prompting widespread media coverage and intensifying concern among families with relatives buried at the cemetery.
(function() {
var l2 = function() {
new pym.Parent(‘bones’,
‘https://media.inquirer.com/storage/inquirer/projects/innovation/arcgis_iframe/bones.html’);
};
if (typeof(pym) === ‘undefined’) {
var h = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)[0],
s = document.createElement(‘script’);
s.type = ‘text/javascript’;
s.src = ‘https://pym.nprapps.org/pym.v1.min.js’;
s.onload = l2;
h.appendChild(s);
} else {
l2();
}
})();
As of Wednesday afternoon, Giammarco said, his department had received more than 200 calls and emails from people across Pennsylvania and from as far away as Montreal and Hawaii, many asking whether authorities could confirm whether specific graves had been disturbed or whether their loved ones’ remains were among those recovered.
Inside the coroner’s office, the remains have been cataloged and placed in secure storage, Coroner Stephen Diamantoni said. They will remain there until Gerlach’s criminal case is resolved.
Diamantoni said his office does not plan to attempt to identify the remains — a task he described as virtually impossible given their age, their condition, and the circumstances in which they were recovered.
When the bones were seized from Gerlach’s home and storage unit, Diamantoni said, they were not labeled or organized in any way that would indicate where they came from or whom they belonged to. In many cases, he said, remains from different individuals were mixed together, a condition known as commingling, “on a scale that I’ve never encountered.”
Compounding the challenge, some of the remains are believed to be hundreds of years old, Diamantoni said, and are in advanced states of decay. Even under ideal conditions, identifying such remains would be difficult. In this case, he said, it would be “a herculean task” to attempt to match the bones to specific burial sites — let alone to determine whose remains they were.
Even if that were somehow possible, Diamantoni said, identifying a living family member would present another nearly insurmountable hurdle, given the age of the remains.
Back in Yeadon, Giammarco said he has tried to provide as much clarity as possible to families reaching out in distress. While the investigation is ongoing, he said, authorities have identified thefts only from mausoleums and underground vaults — structures that are larger and deeper than standard graves and are constructed differently. He spent much of the weekend returning calls and responding to emails, he said, hoping to ease fears.
“If it would have been my family,” Giammarco said, “I would have wanted someone to contact me.”
Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse, whose office is prosecuting Gerlach, said Wednesday the investigation into the crimes was ongoing.
Haverford Township officials voted this week to bar the township’s police department from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the agency’s civil deportation efforts.
Township commissioners overwhelmingly approved the resolution, which says Haverford police officers and resources will not be made available for ICE’s 287(g) program. The nationwide initiative allows local police departments to perform certain federal immigration duties, should they choose to enter an agreement with the agency.
The Monday evening vote came after a weekend of anti-ICE protests in cities across the country spurred by the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by an immigration agent during an enforcement operation in Minneapolis.
“The last thing I want to see happen is that our relationship with our police department be hurt by the reckless and criminal activity of ICE,” Haverford Commissioner Larry Holmes said before the vote. “We have the power to prevent that.”
Local law enforcement agencies that enter a 287(g) agreement with ICE are offered a variety of responsibilities and trainings, such as access to federal immigration databases, the ability to question detainees about their immigration status, and authority to issue detainers and initiate removal proceedings.
The program is voluntary and partnerships are initiated by local departments themselves, though some Republican-led states are urging agencies to enter them. The Department of Homeland Security recently touted that it has more than 1,000 such partnerships nationwide, as the Trump administration continues to make a sweeping deportation effort the focus of its domestic policy.
Critics such as the American Civil Liberties Union say the program turns local departments into an “ICE force multiplier” and that the agreements, which require officers to shift from local to federal duties, are a drain on time and resources.
Haverford Township’s police department has not made any request to initiate such an agreement with ICE, according to commissioners, who called the resolution a preemptive measure. While ICE has ramped up enforcement in Philadelphia and in surrounding communities like Norristown, there have not been sizable operations in Delaware County.
Judy Trombetta, the president of the township’s board of commissioners, said the resolution was about protecting the civil liberties of those living in Haverford, as well as the township’s public safety.
In Trombetta’s view, a 287(g) agreement could mean those without legal immigration status could be deterred from reporting crimes to Haverford police or showing up to court hearings, while leaving officers confused about their own responsibilities.
And as a township, she said, it is “not our role” to act as federal immigration agents.
“It’s our job as a township to keep people safe, [to] uphold the Constitution,” Trombetta said.
Commissioners voted 7-2 to approve the resolution.
The motion still requires Haverford police to cooperate with federal immigration agencies in criminal investigations. But because many cases involving those living in the country illegally are civil offenses, much of ICE’s activities are exempt.
Commissioner Kevin McCloskey, voicing his support for the resolution, said the week after Good’s killing had been “incredibly taxing on the American people,” and in his view, it was important to adopt the resolution even if ICE wasn’t active in the community.
But for Commissioner Brian Godek, one of the lone holdout votes, that reality made the resolution nothing more than “political theater.”
Tensions over Good’s killing were on full display during the meeting, as both the resolution’s supporters and detractors filled the seats of Haverford’s municipal services building.
“I do not want my tax dollars or Haverford’s resources to be used to support a poorly trained, unprofessional, and cruel secret police force that is our current federal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency,” said resident Deborah Derrickson Kossmann.
Brian Vance, a resident and a lawyer who opposed the resolution, said he was approaching the matter like an attorney. He questioned whether noncompliance with a federal department would open up the possibility of lawsuits, or the federal government withholding funds for the township.
“It’s legal, it’s proper, whether we agree with it or not,” Vance said of ICE’s authority.
After the vote, McCloskey, the commissioner, made a plea for unity to those divided over the issue.
That included residents who said the resolution’s supporters had gotten caught up in the “emotion” of the Minneapolis shooting.
“I just ask that you take a step back,” McCloskey said. “On some level, we should all be able to appreciate that none of us wanted to see a 37-year-old mother in a car get shot.”
Main Line Health on Wednesday announced that emergency medical services at Riddle Hospital in Media would be rebranded as Main Line Health EMS.
The seven-ambulance fleet has been known as Riddle EMS for the past 40 years. It employs 77 paramedics and EMTs and provides emergency response services for Main Line’s four-hospital system.
In addition to Riddle Hospital, Main Line Health includes Paoli Hospital, Lankenau Medical Center, and Bryn Mawr Hospital.
The rebranding gives Main Line’s emergency services team a name that matches its system-wide mission, and “strengthens the team’s ability to meet the expanding needs of the community, while preserving the trusted service delivered for decades,” according to a statement from Main Line.
Riddle and Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, in Darby, are the next closest hospitals for people who would previously have turned to Crozer for emergency care.
With early sunsets persisting for the next few weeks, the 4 to 6 p.m. hour can feel pretty grim. If you’re looking for a drink-sized pick-me-up or a discount on some tasty bites, there are plenty of places in and around Media to choose from. Here are eight restaurants in the Media area doing happy hours right now.
Internationally inspired restaurant Departure is serving hits from around the globe. Their happy hour includes select wines for $7, beers for $4 to $6, house martinis for $9, mixed drinks for $7, and featured specialty cocktails for $11. Small bites also abound. Think tandoori chicken dumplings for $8, jerk shrimp for $10, or hummus for $5. Happy hour is available Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.
Maris is the new kid on the block in Media’s dining scene. The Mediterranean restaurant opened on State Street in November and has been serving up fresh seafood and Greek-style dishes since. Maris’ happy hour deal includes buck-a-shuck oysters, half-priced calamari, and half-priced spreads. Drink options include $4 Miller Lites, $10 glasses of wine, and $10 “bartender’s choice” cocktails. Happy hour is Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.
Buck-a-shuck oysters at Maris Mediterranean Seafood in Media, Pa. Maris offers happy hour Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.
Spasso Italian Grill is a Media icon. The beloved restaurant serves up Italian comfort classics, from wood-fired pizzas to homemade pastas and hearty salads. Spasso’s happy hour menu features a wide-ranging list of beers for $4 to 5, wine by the glass for $8, mixed drinks for $7, and martinis for $8. Pick from the $8 small plates menu, including arancini, meatballs, and tomato bruschetta, or try a pizza or heartier dish, like eggplant parmesan or steamed mussels, for $13. Happy hour is Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.
Ariano is a cocktail bar and restaurant in downtown Media specializing in Southern Italian cuisine. The restaurant is offering both an early and late happy hour through Jan. 18. Every day from 4 to 6 p.m., enjoy $4 off wines, cocktails, pizza, and appetizers and $2 off draft beers. On Friday and Saturday, get the happy hour deal from 8 to 9 p.m.
The Old State Tavern has taken the moniker “Media’s best neighborhood bar.” The laid-back bar is a local favorite, complete with darts, a pool table, bar food, and lots of beer. Take 50 cents off domestic beers and $1 off craft beers during happy hour, which takes place Monday through Friday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Media’s la Padella is home to comforting Italian dishes, steaks, chops, and desserts. Their happy hour menu features $7 starters, from mussels to fried ravioli and truffle fries. House wines and cocktails like the Tuscan Sunrise or Penn Martini are also $7, and a rotating selection of draft beers is $1 off. Happy hour runs from 3 to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday.
Stephen’s on State prides itself on high-quality, fresh steaks and an “exquisite” ambiance. Looking for something more casual than a full steak dinner? Pull up a seat at the bar for happy hour, Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. Get your first two drinks half-off (excluding top shelf liquor), and try some bites like the cheesesteak nachos for $7, jumbo wings for $8, or margherita flatbread for $8.
Located off Middletown Road, La Porta Ristorante is a family-owned restaurant serving wood-fired pizzas, pastas, and Italian-inspired small plates and mains. Happy hour is available at the bar, Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. Order a Stella Artois for $3.50, liquor drinks for $4, or wine by the glass for $5.50. Small bite options include scotch eggs for $5, mussels for $8, bacon-wrapped bleu cheese-stuffed dates for $6, and deviled eggs for $5.
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.
HARRISBURG — State Treasurer Stacy Garrity has been the Pennsylvania Republican Party’s endorsed candidate for governor since September, but few candidates have stepped up to run alongside her for lieutenant governor.
Only two candidates have officially thrown their hats in the ring for Republican lieutenant governor, as Garrity faces the uphill battle of running against a popular incumbent in Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro. And despite amassing unusually early support from the state party, recruiting someone to run as her No. 2 has proven challenging, as some potential candidates have declined to run.
Garrity said Monday at the Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon she’s in talks with “a lot of people,” and she’s confident she’ll find a running mate “perfect for the ticket.”
But time is of the essence, as she has less than a month until the state GOP meets for its winter meeting, where the party is expected to endorse a lieutenant governor candidate. Whomever she picks is likely to get the nod.
“In many respects, it’s up to Stacy Garrity,” said GOP strategist Charlie Gerow. “The lieutenant governor candidate has to not only be a good political fit, but has to be a good personal fit for her. Otherwise, the ticket falls apart before you get to Election Day.”
So far, the only two GOP candidates to formally announce their campaigns for lieutenant governor are State Sen. Cris Dush (R., Jefferson), who is one of the most conservative members of the Senate GOP caucus, and Bucks County businessman and political newcomer Brian Thomas. Dush said he’d likely pursue the GOP primary nomination even if he isn’t endorsed by the state party, while Thomas announced his candidacy last week in a press release and said he is now reaching out to party leaders seeking their support.
And more far-right Republicans have publicly floated a run, teeing up a potential battle among some of the state’s most conservative members to run alongside Garrity on the November ballot.
In Pennsylvania, candidates for lieutenant governor face their own primary races separate from the candidates for governor. After the primary, the winners are joined onto one ticket and run together in the general election.
Former State Rep. Rick Saccone, who previously ran for lieutenant governor and was on U.S. Capitol grounds during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot but did not face criminal charges, has publicly stated his interest in the role. Saccone said he would not enter the race if the state party backed another candidate.
And State Sen. Doug Mastriano, a far-right Republican who lost to Shapiro in 2022 and last week ruled out a second run for the GOP nomination, later claimed on a local radio station that Garrity would need him as her running mate if she wants to win.
Few more moderate options have emerged.
Montgomery County Commissioner Tom DiBello, a Republican from Shapiro’s home county, said in an interview that he had been approached about pursuing the role. DiBello said he received a positive reception when he traveled the state contemplating a run, but he implied Monday that he’d moved on. On Tuesday night DiBello lost his bid to be the next chair of the county party to his former running mate, Liz Ferry.
“I had a lot of support out there as far as potentially running for lieutenant governor, but I’m right now very dedicated to Montgomery County,” DiBello added.
A number of other officials are rumored to have withdrawn themselves from consideration or are still in talks with Garrity’s campaign, several Republican insiders said.
This time around, the sense among Pennsylvania state party members is that Garrity should be given leeway to choose her running mate and party faithful will endorse her choice.
Many hadn’t even heard who might be in the running. But several Republicans who spoke to The Inquirer said they think Garrity needs to pick someone who will appeal to Democrats and independents who voted for Shapiro four years ago.
“We’re a purple state, and my sense is a more moderate candidate that appeals to a bigger swath of the electorate would be, if I were selecting, would be a preference here,” said Jason Richey, the chair of the Allegheny County GOP.
Or, as Val Biancaniello, a Republican state committeewoman from Delaware County, put it, a candidate needs “statewide appeal.”
State Treasurer Stacy Garrity greets supporters following a campaign rally in Bucks County on Sept. 25, 2025. The GOP gubernatorial candidate visited the Newtown Sports & Events Center, in one of Pennsylvania’s top swing counties.
DiBello argued that Garrity’s running mate needs corporate and government experience, though he refused to name anyone else being considered behind the scenes. Garrity said she believed that DiBello was no longer “in the mix” for the job, but she did not expand further.
“I’m not putting my finger on the scale,” DiBello said before joking: “I’ve heard this Montgomery County commissioner would be awesome. I’ll put my finger on that scale.”
Garrity largely declined to comment on the candidates whose names have been circulating for her running mate, except for Mastriano.
“I didn’t even know he wasn’t running for governor until last week,” Garrity told reporters, noting her friendship with Mastriano. “We’re in discussion with a number of people, and I know that we will have the absolute best partner as lieutenant governor when the time is right.”
In his campaign launch Thursday, Shapiro tied Garrity to the extremes of her party, asking voters to choose between “getting stuff done” and “chaos.” A far-right running mate will make that message easier for Democrats as they work to secure the governor’s mansion for another four years.
Despite this, Mastriano was bullish Friday morning speaking on WEEO News Talk 103.7 FM in central Pennsylvania.
“That’s a possibility,” Mastriano said about a potential lieutenant governor run. “To be honest, that probably [is] the only way to generate some excitement for the Garrity ticket, and we know Garrity being on top of the ticket, that’s probably the only way the party would win if I did that.”
David Zandstra, the former Marple Township pastor acquitted last year in the 1975 murder of an 8-year-old girl in Delaware County, has died, and a federal lawsuit has been filed alleging misconduct by two Pennsylvania State Police investigators in the case.
The lawsuit said the 85-year-old Zandstra, who lived in Georgia, “has passed and his family seek redress for this extreme and immoral prosecution.”
No further information about his death was included in the complaint. The Delaware County Daily Times, citing his death certificate, reported that Zandstra died Dec. 15 at a hospice, and the cause of death was skin cancer.
Mark Much, one of Zandstra’s lawyers during the trial but who is not an attorney on the lawsuit, said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday night that “Zandstra passed away last month, peacefully, and surrounded by his loving family.”
Much said that Zandstra “was a God-fearing man, unsuspecting and trustful of law enforcement, naive of their unscrupulous interrogation tactics, all in the name of ‘solving’ a cold case.”
The defendants in the lawsuit, filed Jan. 10 in Philadelphia, are Andrew Martin and Eugene Tray, who were the most recent state police investigators for Gretchen Harrington’s murder.
Gretchen Harrington, 8, was found dead in 1975.
Tray declined to comment on the lawsuit. Martin could not be reached for comment.
The plaintiff is Margaret Zandstra, the administrator of the estate of David Zandstra, who allegedly had his civil rights violated by the defendants, the lawsuit states.
Zandstra, who was held in custody for 18 months, was found not guilty in January 2025 by a Delaware County jury of murder and kidnapping in the killing of Gretchen Harrington. The jury took about an hour to deliberate after a four-day trial.
In 2023, Zandstra was charged after he confessed to driving Gretchen to a secluded section of Ridley Creek State Park and beating her to death. The lawsuit says the investigators “illegally coerced an admission of guilt from Mr. Zandstra, a then-83-year-old stroke and cancer survivor.”
Mark Much argued during the trial that state police investigators had coerced and manipulated Zandstra into confessing to a crime he did not commit. There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime and DNA found on Gretchen’s clothing belonged to two unidentified men and one unidentified woman.
Testimony during the trial revealed that before Zandstra’s confession, the state police had developed several other suspects in the decades since Gretchen’s body was found.
The lawsuit provides alleged details about what the investigators did before finally going after Zandstra.
“These Defendants caused evidence of the alternative suspects and Mr. Zandstra’s exclusion as a contributor of DNA to be withheld until the eve of trial, after Mr. Zandstra had been incarcerated and his cancer had returned and gone untreated,” according to the complaint.
Zandstra was the pastor at Trinity Chapel in Marple Township, a Christian reform church near the Harrington family home. On Aug. 15, 1975, Gretchen was last seen walking to the church for the final session of vacation Bible school before disappearing.
Her unclothed body was found two months later near a walking trail in Ridley Creek State Park. An autopsy revealed she died from blunt-force trauma to the head.
Deputy District Attorney Geoff Paine said during the trial that two state police investigators interviewed Zandstra after a woman who was a lifelong friend of Zandstra’s daughter told police in 2022 that he had groped her at a sleepover at his home in 1975, days before Gretchen’s disappearance. At the time, Paine said, the woman was the same age as Gretchen and looked like Gretchen.
Much told the jury that another suspect who was investigated was Gretchen’s sister, Zoe Harrington, who in 2021 claimed to have killed her sister with a rock during an incident involving her father, who was also a pastor, and members of the congregation he led.
Much said the state police at one point considered Harold Harrington, Gretchen’s father, a potential suspect. Harold Harrington died in 2021.
The prosecutor told the jury that Zoe Harrington’s confession wasn’t credible because she had a history of mental-health illness.
According to the lawsuit, Andrew Martin, one of the defendants, went to the first assistant district attorney in Montgomery County to seek a court order to allow a secretly recorded conversation between Zoe Harrington and her father, who was in poor health at the time.
After several interviews with Zoe Harrington — including with another state trooper who is not named as a defendant — Martin signed an application to the court for a wiretap authorization on Aug. 9, 2021, according to the lawsuit. The next day, however, Zoe Harrington allegedly backed out because she said she was too afraid.
The lawsuit states that when Martin and Tray provided their sworn affidavit supporting the arrest of Zandstra, they summarized their August 2021 activity in the investigation as: “On Aug. 9, 2021, investigators conducted an interview of Zoey HARRINGTON (sister of Gretchen HARRINGTON) relative to this investigation. Zoe HARRINGTON related that ZANDSTRA was the minister at the time, and his daughter was Gretchen’s best friend.”
The lawsuit also says the state police had another suspect, Richard Bailey, who was investigated in 2017. Bailey was a convicted child rapist and kidnapper, who was seen a mile from where Gretchen disappeared on the day she was abducted. Bailey died in state prison in the 1990s.
A consortium set up in 1996 to train future shipyard workers at the former Philadelphia Navy Yard says a new U.S. Department of Labor grant will prepare workers for Korean-owned Hanwha Philly Shipyard. The group hopes to quadruple apprenticeship graduates from around 120 workers a year to around 500.
“In line with President [Donald] Trumpʼs executive orders, these projects will help train our next generation of shipbuilders,” U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement.
Led by Delaware County Community College, the effort includes other area colleges, partnered with Hanwha and the nonprofit Collegiate Consortium for Workforce & Economic Development.
The Delco-led effort will set up “a new model of education and training for U.S. shipbuilding that will include sending U.S. instructors and workers overseas to learn advanced shipbuilding techniques” to be used at yards including Hanwha’s in South Philadelphia, the college said in a statement.
The money will help pay for training simulation models, online courses, and other programs for “an internationally recognized curriculum for shipbuilding skilled trades” to help trade unions, schools, and shipyards prepare new apprentices and more-experienced journeymen union workers, veterans, welders, steelworkers, electricians, steamfitters, and carpenters.
The partners “will accelerate the transfer of proven global shipbuilding practices to the U.S.,” Hanwha Philadelphia Shipyard chief executive David Kim said in a statement.
The consortium is chaired by Marta Yera Cronin, who is also the Delco community college president.
Hanwha sends workers from its giant shipyards on Geojedo island, South Korea, to help complete work on civilian ships in Philadelphia.
The company has pledged to invest $5 billion in the yard, backed by U.S. government grants and loans. It says it wants to boost output from the current one ship every eight months to 10 to 20 a year.
Trump has said he’d like to see Hanwha technology used by U.S. workers to build nuclear submarines and battleships in Philadelphia.
That would require extensive new dry docks, cranes, power plants and other large capital investments, and a lot more ground and dock space than the 118-acre Hanwha-owned yard or the neighboring former Navy site where family-owned Rhoads Industries repairs and fabricates parts for General Dynamics, a major Navy submarine builder.
A separate $5.8 million Labor Department grant is going to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, one of several civilian officer training schools slated to receive Korean-designed training vessels that the Philadelphia yard has been building in recent years. That money will develop additional shipbuilder training with foreign partners.
Under current contracts with the Philadelphia metalworkers’ union group that represents yard workers — itself a joint effort of the boilermakers, operating engineers, carpenters, and other unions — newly qualified workers can earn around $30 an hour. Experienced workers can qualify for as much as $100,000 a year, including overtime.
According to the consortium, community colleges have added trades education following a drop in U.S. public school shop classes and a shortage of U.S. workers interested in industrial work, including shipbuilding, which involves high-heat tools, dangerous materials, and outdoor work in all weather.
The grant will speed expansion of the consortium, which has received grants from Citizens Bank and support from port-related agencies in past years.
The college says it has trained more than 600 apprentices in all fields over the past 20 years. It stepped up its focus on shipbuilding beginning in 2017.
