Keystone Cops: Two For The Price Of One

Keystone Cops is a daily look at crime, police, public safety and drug news. Homicide totals are unofficial.

• A man on trial for a litany of charges — including solicitation of murder and and car-jacking — came up with a novel defense: It was his twin brother who confessed, not him! They had traded cells in prison, he says. He’s not all bad, though: One of his alleged plans was to blow up the Gallery. [Inquirer]

• Right before robbing her 71-year-old uncle with an accomplice, the man’s niece wrote him a letter that read, in part: “It’s God’s will that you have Parkinson’s.” Ho ho! [Bucks County Courier Times]

• DVDs were stolen and then resold to locations at the Oxford Valley Mall. Clever. [BCCT]

• A man who caused a traffic accident that killed a man won’t be extradited but will be tried in Poland for his crimes, oddly enough. Yeah, I have no idea. [AP/Philly.com]

Keystone Cops: The Worst Part Of Waking Up

Keystone Cops is a daily look at crime, police, public safety and drug news. Homicide totals are unofficial.

• Police are searching for two men who are robbing local convenience stores by throwing hot coffee in an employee’s face and then stealing the cash. Seventeen places have been robbed, and it’s so bad that Wawa and 7-Eleven have put aside their differences to come up with a reward. [NBC 10]

• Police apprehended a man who allegedly robbed a Wal-Mart in Northeast Philly in — where else? — Miami. The cops arrested Bilial “Pepe” Shabazz also known as — what else? — Terry Sharp. [Northeast Times]

• A teacher in Central Bucks was punished for including Mark Ravenhill’s 1996 play Shopping and Fucking in a collection of plays students could perform. The student who was going to perform the play “was suspended earlier this year by a different faculty member after he was heard discussing topics related to sex.” Ha ha! No talking about sex in school! Yes, this is nice and healthy. [Doylestown Intelligencer]

• The Comcast Center is attacking! [Inquirer]

Keystone Cops: Fire, Water, Burn

Keystone Cops is a daily look at crime, police, public safety and drug news. Homicide totals are unofficial.

• Police identified the two men fatally shot yesterday in Philadelphia. (And don’t worry, the homicide total didn’t jump that much; I just had it wrong yesterday ‘cuz I’m an idiot and can’t type.) One of the victims was 18. [Inquirer]

• The Philadelphia Fire Department unveiled a new fire safety program in response to the 10 deaths in house fires in five days. Hey, what is this? A city department unveiled a problem and took immediate steps to attempt to solve it? What is going on here? [KYW 1060]

• And speaking of fire, the Fire Dept. ruled a recent 41st Street house fire was arson. It’s the second arson of a building with Penn students in it this school year. Apparently the residents of West Philadelphia are hoping to drive out those Penn kids one house at a time. [Daily Pennsylvanian]

• A middle-schooler was arrested after bringing a firearm to school, and another one was arrested for attempting to help him get away with it. [NBC 10]

• And Boscovs is not legally allowed to discriminate against pagans, Wiccans and Christians. [AP/CBS 3]

Keystone Cops: Pants Off Dance Off

Keystone Cops is a daily look at crime, police, public safety and drug news. Homicide totals are unofficial.

• Crime of the day: Four charged in pants theft. Yes, it took four people to allegedly steal a pair of pants (and, later, a car) from a man who thought he was going to get laid. A 21-year-old woman lured him into a motel to ostensibly get it from behind, but when the man removed his pants, she and her three male accomplices fled with them. The pants didn’t contain the dude’s wallet, so they went back and took his car, but were later arrested. [Camden Courier-Post]

• Police officer Lawrence Leissner detailed his experience rushing into a bloody crime scene. Actual sentences from article: “In the main office area, five desks were neatly cluttered with Apple computers, iPods, music CDs and computer software. But the furniture and accessories hardly mattered to Leissner, who led his fellow officers through the office space.” I would’ve stopped to take some iPods. [Daily News]

• Richard Laird was sentenced to death in a retrial of the 1988 abduction and murder of Anthony Milano. [Buxco Courier Times]

• A man was found dead in a car in West Kensington, the city’s 40th homicide of the year. [Inquirer]

Keystone Cops: Into The Fire

Keystone Cops is a daily look at crime, police, public safety and drug news. Homicide totals are unofficial.

• Three people were killed in another house fire this morning in West Philadelphia. Philly.com notes 10 people have been killed by fire in the last five days. No word on this morning’s fire, but the other fires occurred in homes without working smoke detectors. Danny says: Only you can prevent house fires. Test your smoke alarm tonight and put new batteries in if necessary. [Inquirer]

• New Jersey might attempt to limit handguns to just one a month. But what will I do when I’m in Jersey, I buy a handgun, a bear eats it while I’m hunting, and I have to go out and get a new one? Huh? How will I be able to hunt for food? I can’t just gather all my dinner, can I? [AP/Inquirer]

• Those people in Voorhees have forced a convicted sex offender to move out of the town. Officials say this will go a long way in helping him become a functioning member of society. [Camden Courier-Post]

• A Telford man’s car was stolen and he got a ticket for keeping it running. Huzzah! [Bucks County Courier Times]

Keystone Cops: In The Navy Yard

Keystone Cops is a daily look at crime, police, public safety and drug news. Homicide totals are unofficial.

• Police have identified three of the victims in last night’s Navy Yard shooting; the shooter’s identity has not yet been released. One of the victims was profiled in the Inquirer in 1994. [Inky]

• A Pittsburgh woman has pled guilty to attempting to cut a woman’s fetus from her womb. The woman’s lawyer: “She is facing repercussions to her behavior but, given her options, I think she is satisfied.” Ahh, yeah. [AP/Philly.com]

• The third fatal house fire in three days took the life of a 74-year-old woman. [Daily News]

• Some Jersey state senator — the one who had $160,000 in salary from four taxpayer-supported jobs and had investigations swirling around him — is retiring. Huzzah. [Camden Courier-Post]

Keystone Cops: Reid To Take Leave

Keystone Cops is a daily look at crime, police, public safety and drug news. Homicide totals are unofficial.

• Andy Reid is taking a leave of absence to deal with the situation involving his kids. He’ll be off until March. Wait, aren’t his kids in their 20s? [MyFox Philly]

• New Jersey is thinking of ending state-sanctioned murder, but here’s the problem: If they get rid of the death penalty, death row inmates might end up getting released on parole. Ho ho… ahh, this isn’t going to end well. [AP/Philly.com]

• A local dog was found severely malnourished. The citizens of Camden County immediately responded with fandom not seen since the days of Barbaro. So, like, since last week. [6 ABC]

• The newest plan to get illegal guns off the streets? Trading them for groceries. Eh, it’s better than 76ers tickets. [Daily Pennsylvanian]

Keystone Cops: Short, Not So Sweet

Keystone Cops is a daily look at crime, police, public safety and drug news. Homicide totals are unofficial.

• Police are probing murders in Southwest and Northeast Philly. [Inquirer]

• The mother and grandmother of Carlos Petty testified he was at home watching TV instead of shooting a Tastykake driver. Ahh, attempted murder trials in Philadelphia. [Daily News]

• A man in Camden got 10 years for shooting a two-year-old. He fired the gun randomly “to impress his friends.” [Inquirer]

• A city police officer has been charged with assault stemming from a 2005 arrest. [Inky]

Yeah, there’s not even any funny crime today. Alas.

Keystone Cops: We Report (Incorrectly), You Decide

Keystone Cops is a daily look at crime, police, public safety and drug news. Homicide totals are unofficial.

• Hell, I don’t know what’s up with the homicide totals. I thought we were stuck on 32, but cops said this killing by a stray bullet was the city’s 35th. So I dunno. Let’s just go with 35, since it’s right here, and I’ll try to figure out a way to make this accurate. Since this will probably involve me getting off my ass, it will be an historic moment. Also, note well: Don’t fire guns randomly into a field. [NBC 10]

• I’m still really trying to make sense of this Lancaster Intelligencer Journal story. Reporters from the LIJ (whatever) were allegedly leaked a password to a 911 database by the coroner. The reporters, after being given immunity, testified against the coroner at a grand jury. And then the coroner wrote up all caps emails to his the competing paper. Perhaps this is a case of “Keystone Reporters.” [Lancaster New Era (on Lancaster Online, also known as 'LOL')]

• Hundreds of items of jewelry was recovered in Northeast Philly. The husband and wife owners of the Frankford Variety Store were allegedly running the fencing operation for 20 years. They caught ‘em just in time. [6 ABC]

• Montco will provide free HPV shots to 11- and 12-year-old girls. Good for them. [KYW 1060]

Keystone Cops: Fumomania Continues

Keystone Cops is a daily look at crime, police, public safety and drug news. Homicide totals are unofficial.

• Vince Fumo, superhero striving against the Bush goverment? Or Vince Fumo, state senator who used senate funds to spy on his exes. Oh, and bought 19 Oreck vacuum cleaners for himself. What, no Dyson? Or even a Roomba? Come on, Vince, we taught you to make better vacuum cleaner choices than that. [Daily News]

• The Inquirer’s coverage of this is great: More on spying on enemies and the whole indictment from them. [Inky]

• A bomb scare closed down a PATCO station. Authorities later revealed the “bomb” to be a Lite Brite, and Easy Bake Oven and a few Ninja Turtles action figures. [Inky]

• A video! On Myspace! Might! Show! Animal! Cruelty! Sweet, let’s all gather ’round and watch. [NBC 10]