Police have identified a woman who was struck and killed in a hit-and-run crash in front of her home on Monday.

Police received a call around 6:30 a.m. reporting a body in the middle of the street on the 500 block of Jacksonville Road (Route 332) near Almshouse Road in Warminster, Bucks County, Pa. When police arrived, they found the body of 51-year-old Christine Witte.

Investigators say she was struck and killed by a vehicle which then fled the scene. Witte was the mother of several children and recently moved in with her parents inside the home on Jacksonville Road. She was right outside the house at the time of the fatal accident, according to investigators.

Later in the morning, police towed a silver Dodge Caravan from SEPTA's Warminster Regional Rail Station, which is a short distance away. They then took the vehicle to the scene of the crash.

Clark says the driver and owner of the vehicle saw a report about the crash on the news and then contacted police. Police brought him in for questioning.

"Right now he is cooperating with us," Clark said. "He did admit to striking something in the highway but was unsure of what it was."

Clark said the driver never explained why he left the scene of the crash.

"He just left, went to the Warminster Train Station, got on the train and then went to his job in the city of Philadelphia," Clark said. "He did not indicate anything at all that he was familiar with what he hit. He just hit something and then left the scene." 

The driver was released early Monday evening after several hours of questioning. He has not been charged at this time. Investigators say it's possible the man's vehicle was not the first to strike Witte.

An autopsy will be performed on Tuesday.

The deadly wreck closed down Jacksonville Road from Traymore Avenue to Industrial Drive for hours.

• Click here for the latest traffic from NBC10.com.

If you have any information on this incident, please call Northampton Township Police.

Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano did not mince words when talking about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to build a $21.8 million sand dune in the resort town.

• WATCH: Jersey Shore Homeowners Face New Freeze Problems

"The idea is ludicrous," he told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Cape May County Herald said the dune plan is set to fight a "familiar tale" that Wildwood and Wildwood Crest have too much sand and that North Wildwood doesn't have enough.

The plan calls for "building dunes and berms from Hereford Inlet to Cape May Inlet," the Herald reported.

Read more about this story at PBJ.com.

As Pennsylvania's race for governor begins to take shape, one candidate has chosen the controversial issue of marijuana legalization as one of the cornerstones of his campaign.

John Hanger, a Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania governor, today unveiled two campaign billboards that send an urgent message on the subject: legalize and tax marijuana now.

Hanger's political director Roger Cohen said addressing the punishment of marijuana possession is just one of the topics Hanger plans to focus on throughout his campaign for governor.

"The motto of the campaign is jobs, not jails and the legalization and taxation of marijuana. This is a very important issue to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Pennsylvanians," Cohen said.

"There are people's lives who have been ruined by arrest and incarceration for this offense -- mainly African-Americans -- and there are hundreds of thousands of families who have a sick relative who can't get medicine. These are issues about freedom and one of the focuses of the campaign is creating a new freedom."

The billboards are located in Erie, Pa. on I-79 South and in Scranton, Pa. on I-81.

Hanger's chief rival, incumbent Gov. Tom Corbett, has vocally opposed legalization of marijuana and several other candidates, including Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, have yet to take a definitive stance on the issue.

Also today, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania Reggie Shuford was among five panelist who participated in a briefing with members of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus to discuss the need for new legislation on marijuana possession offenses.

Shuford says he presented findings from the ACLU's 2013 report The War on Marijuana in Black and White: Billions of Dollars Wasted on Racially Biased Arrests and discussed the distinct impact that marijuana offense arrests have had on the African American community.

"Everybody there seemed open to continuing the conversation on this issue," Shuford said.

NBC10 recently conducted an unscientific poll asking readers what Philly should do about marijuana possession. Nearly 300 of 347 respondents said marijuana should be legalized. A mere 30 respondents said marijuana possession should remain an arrestable offense and less than 25 respondents said marijuana possession should be reduced to a fineable offense.

Homicide detectives in Philadelphia say they have arrested the man responsible for murdering an officer's son outside his Southwest Philadelphia home.

Kevin Davis, 26, has been charged with the murder of 19-year-old Jahmeer Jet along the 6200 block of Grays Avenue on Jan. 17., police said on Monday.

Jett, an aspiring boxer, was walking into his house along the block just before 6 p.m. when he was suddenly approached from behind and shot at point blank range, police said. He was rushed to the Hospital of The University of Pennsylvania where he later died.

Philadelphia Police Homicide Capt. James Clark called Jett a good kid who was not known to police and nothing was taken from his person. After the murder, police asked for the public's help in identifying the person responsible.

Detectives have not yet released a motive for the murder.

Davis was denied bail. He is being held at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility.

Bundle up when you step out the door Tuesday morning. You'll be hit with icy cold wind chills that could be below zero, depending on where you live. Another arctic blast moved into our area, causing temperatures to drop drastically.

A wind chill advisory will be in effect for the north and west suburbs(Chester, Upper Bucks, Montgomery counties) from 1 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

• Freezing Temps Lead to Ice Jam Concerns
• Wind, Snow Create Rare "Snow Rollers"
• Track Temps With Our Weather App

While temperatures were in the mid-40s midday Monday, they plummeted as the winds switched directions. A bitter cold front brought in subfreezing temperatures from Canada. By midnight, temperatures fell to 12 degrees with wind chills that ranged from the single digits to temperatures below 0.

Tuesday morning will be frigid, windy and cold. The winds will die down a bit and temperatures will rise throughout the day but not much, with a high of 19.

1 a.m. Wind Chills

5 a.m. Wind Chills

7 a.m. Wind Chills

3 p.m. Wind Chills

In anticipation of the cold, SEPTA officials called in extra workers to monitor conditions and keep an eye out on older vehicles. Train cars will also be stored in subway tunnels overnight to keep them warmer for riders.

Officials with PJM, the company that operates the tri-state region's power grid, are also asking consumers to conserve energy on Tuesday if health permits, especially from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.

PJM officials advise consumers to set thermostats lower than usual, postpone using electrical appliances(ie. stoves, dishwashers, clothes dryers) until mid-day or after 9 p.m., and turn off electric lights and appliances that you don't need or aren't using.

Slippery road conditions caused by freezing are another concern for Tuesday.

Southerly winds pushed temps into the low 40s by midday on Monday which teamed with mostly sunny skies to help melt off some of the snow and ice left from the last two snowstorms.

The melt off caused moisture to spill onto area roads and sidewalks. Those areas will freeze overnight. However, strong winds could help to prevent icing on area roads for Tuesday morning’s commute.

NBC10 First Alert Weather chief meteorologist Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz says that the brisk winds with gusts up to 35 mph will help evaporate moisture on roads -- especially major roads.

There could still be some icy and slushy spots on area roads overnight with slush and water refreezing on side streets and less used roads so be careful driving out there in any case.

There is also the possibility of snow in a few areas Tuesday night. A winter weather advisory is in effect for Sussex County, Delaware from 5 p.m. Tuesday to 5 a.m. on Wednesday.

A southeastern storm will bring heavy snow to the Carolina coasts and shore areas in Delaware and New Jersey will be on the northern fringe.

"Some models do bring measurable snow to Sussex County, Delaware and South Jersey Shore Tuesday night," Glenn said.

NBC10 First Alert Weather meteorologist Sheena Parveen says 2 to 4 inches of snow are possible in Sussex County.

"Some of the latest models are giving a few inches of snow to the shore, but no advisory has been issued there at the moment," Parveen said.

The bitter cold will remain on Wednesday though temperatures will slowly rise to a high of 25. Temps should finally move back up above the freezing mark by Thursday with a high of 31. By Friday, temperatures will be around 40 degrees and will rise to 50 degrees on Saturday. Rain is also expected to hit the area late Saturday and early Sunday before clearing out, leading to a dry Super Bowl.

Crews rushed to a construction site today to rescue a worker trapped in a trench collapse.

The worker got stuck in the dirt trench at a site on W Delaware Avenue in Gwinhurst, Del. around noon.

Claymont Fire Department firefighters and paramedics as well as New Castle County Police officers worked to get the free the unidentified man from the dirt trench, which is located next to a home.

The worker was conscious and alert during the rescue attempt, according to county police.

The group of more than one dozen emergency personnel were able to pull the worker out around 12:45 p.m. and rush him into a waiting ambulance as SkyForce10 hovered overhead.

The man's condition wasn't released.

It wasn't clear what type of work was being done to the home at the time. The area where the collapse occurred -- in front of the home -- appeared to be dug up.

A family from Lakewood, N.J. posted a rather unique ad on the classifieds website Craigslist last week.

According to reports from The Star-Ledger, the Jewish family posted an ad on the Central Jersey craigslist on Jan. 23 requesting a minimum bid of $20,000 from anyone wanting to name their newborn. 

"We would like to sell the opportunity to name our daughter to someone else," The ad read. "This is an excellent opportunity for someone who may not have had children, or someone looking to honor a relative, etc. Or even to honor someone's memory that was killed in the Holocaust."

As parents, they've had more experience than most with naming children. This is reportedly their 9th daughter. They have one boy.

The father of the child to be named told global Jewish news source JTA.org that he decided to try the idea because the couple was low on money and have had to name so many daughters that they were "out of names basically."

"We’re out of relatives to name after," the father told JTA. "For each one, we chose another relative. We thought it might be a nice thing; there might be an elderly person who passed away or someone without any children."

The father added that the family would keep in touch with the winning bidder who names their child.

"Whoever would do this, we would consider them like family," the father told JTA.

Read the full interview here.

The Star-Ledger reported that the baby-naming ad has since been removed from Craigslist, but the family told JTA that they had received four bids before the ad was pulled.

Police say a body was found along the Delaware River shoreline in West Deptford, New Jersey.

On January 15, a helicopter pilot flying near a solid waste disposal property spotted the body.

Investigators say the body is that of a white female between the ages of 30 and 60. Police also say the woman stood between 5-foot-5 and 5-foot-7 and weighed 160 to 180 pounds. She also had salt-and-pepper hair that appeared to be dyed brown.

Police say the woman was wearing an XL black hooded, fur-line “Seventy-Seven” jacket, gray, hooded “ENYCE” sweatshirt, blue “Destiny” denim jacket, a blue “Cellucap” Tyvek shire, similar to hospital attire, blue “Liz Claiborne” cotton pants, New Balance sneakers, and brown socks with rubber grips, similar to hospital attire.

Investigators have not yet determined a time or cause of death. If you have any information on the woman’s identity, please call Detective Anthony Garbarino at the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office at 856-384-5619.

Also on NBC10.com:

• Woman Shot Dead in Front of Home
• Another Cold Weather-Related Death?
   

Police say a drunk driver crashed into a popular Atlantic City bar over the weekend.

Donald Preston Jr., 56, of Pleasantville allegedly crashed his SUV through the front of the Irish Pub on the 100 block of St. James Place around 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.

The owner of the pub told police that Preston was inside the bar prior to the crash and was visibly intoxicated.

“He walked in and he put his coat on the stool,” said Tracy Talley, the manager of the pub. “He walked to the bathroom and he came back out and pulled the chair back like he was gonna sit down. Our owner was kind of like, ‘no,’ and then he just put his coat back on, smiled, and waved.”

After going back into his car, police say Preston crashed his vehicle into the bar. Investigators suspect the icy parking lot played a role in the crash.

No one inside the bar was hurt in the accident. Preston was arrested and charged with DUI and other related offenses.

Irish Pub is currently closed as workers continue to repair the front wall of the building.
 

A hockey dad has embraced the bitter cold weather and made a dream come true for his three children -- Allison, 10, and twins Colin and Amelia, 7. Dennis Helkowski built a homemade hockey rink in his Sewell backyard for fun and for the love of the game.

"I always have to go to a rink to play (hockey), but now I can just go outside," said Colin. "It is pretty fun but making it was really hard. I helped by holding the boards."

The weather has cooperated for winter sport enthusiasts. NBC10 chief meteorologist Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz says the wind chill is expected to only be in the single digits on Tuesday, a mere 7 degrees at 3 p.m. Then the wind chill declines to near zero overnight.

Due to the arctic cold, the DIY (do it yourself) rink project has been put to good use over the past two weeks. Helkowski and his three children used 2 by 6 foot boards to construct a perimeter and filled it up with 4 inches of water. The kids held the wood and screws as Helkowski drilled the frame. The full size of the rink is 12 by 24 feet. Hockey jerseys line the fence next to the rink giving the backyard an arena feeling.

The project was on Helkowski's to-do list for years, but this year was the first time he put the idea into action. He coaches a youth Flyers hockey team so it was a no-brainer. Neighbors and teammates have used the rink for fun and for the practical purpose of getting skating practice in.

"It's held up with the bitter cold weather we've had. This never happens," said Helkowski. "When we finally had the weather to do it I figured we'd try it."

The entire family loves hockey and is looking forward to cheering on the local Flyers players who are competing in the Sochi Olympics.

Since cold temperatures are forecasted for the week, Helkowski expects the rink to last through the end of the week. Plans are already in place to make another rink next winter.

Contact Sarah Glover at 610-668-5580, sarah.glover@nbcuni.com or follow @skyphoto on Twitter.

A civil lawsuit filed on behalf of two victims of a deadly fire escape collapse outside an apartment building in Rittenhouse Square earlier this month alleges the balcony was “dangerous,” “defective” and “corroded.”

Laura O’Brien and the family of Albert Suh, who was killed in the incident, filed a civil lawsuit on Monday seeking damages for wrongful death and negligence in the collapse.

The fourth-floor fire escape landing broke off from the brick façade of the John C. Bell Apartment Building at 229 S. 22nd Street just after midnight on Jan. 12. Suh, a 22-year-old financial analyst, O’Brien, a 24-year-old kindergarten teacher, and a third woman, who is not part of the suit, were standing on the fire escape collapsed.

Suh was rushed to a nearby hospital and later died. O’Brien suffered a number of serious injuries including a broken back. She underwent a number of surgeries and had metal rods placed into her back, the suit says.

The lawsuit alleges the building’s owner The Khorram Group failed to properly inspect the fire escape which “became badly corroded and weakened substantially” over time. The suit also claims there was no signs warning that the escape was in poor condition and that building tenants were not notified about the conditions.

The fire escape had not been inspected in more than 50 years and was not required to be checked by city officials past an initial inspection, according to the Department of Licenses & Inspections. A post-accident inspection of the fire tower found it to be imminently dangerous.

The suit is seeking damages in excess of $50,000.

The Khoramm Group was not immediately reachable for comment.

This is a photo of part of the fire escape landing that collapsed. It was included in the court filing:

A doctor charged with illegally writing prescriptions for addictive drugs appeared before a judge on Monday three days after his arrest.

Dr. Liviu Holca, 55, said little during his court appearance but his lawyer insisted he was innocent.

"He denies these charges altogether," said John Bruder, Holca's attorney.

Holca's office was raided Friday morning, catching a worker and patient off guard.

"I'm shocked. I mean, he's always, how do I put it? Under-prescribes. You know what I'm saying? He's really careful about it," said Gail Shakin, a patient of family practitioner, Dr. Liviu Holca.

Shakin showed up at Holca's office on Beacon Avenue in Stafford Township, N.J., as the Ocean County's Special Operations squad was going through the doctor's office. A woman named Jennifer who works with Holca said she, too, was taken aback by the allegations.

"I know him. I work with him. He's a nice guy. I can't connect the two things," Jennifer told NBC10 Jersey Shore Bureau Reporter Ted Greenberg, who was first on the scene and witnessed investigators carting away boxes that included "several loaded firearms, a quantity of suspected controlled dangerous substances and a significant amount of cash," according to a statement from the prosecutor's office.

According to prosecutors, Holca dispensed narcotics to undercover officers eight times between July and August of last year. Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato said the county is cracking down on professional dealers because prescription pills are a gateway to heroin addiction.

"No one wakes up and suddenly decides, 'today I'm doing heroin,'" Coronato said in a statement. "Abuse of prescription pills is the precursor to a life of dangerous street-level drug addition. It's only a matter of time before an addicted person's habit pushes them from high-priced pills to cheap street heroin."

According to his Physician Profile on the Meridian Health website, Holca went to medical school in Romania and was a resident at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers.

Investigators said Holca was distributing Percocet and Xanax, illegally. He is charged with drug distribution, possessing marijuana, possession of firearms and money laundering. Holca was forced to shut down his practice and surrender his license to prescribe controlled substances.

"He's always careful with me with prescriptions and everything," said Shakin. "He's like, 'I can't give you this, I can't give you that.'"

Bruder maintained his client's innocence on Monday.

"It's a doctor's position that everything he's prescribed was medically necessary," Bruder said. "We've had a lot of patients who have been reaching out, speaking very highly of the doctor."

Bruder says Holca is currently unable to post bail, which remains set at $225,000 cash.

"He's got a lot of life savings that have just been seized by the prosecutor's office," Bruder said. "It seems like there's a lot of overreaching occurring right now." 

Bruder plans to file an application on Tuesday to have Holca's bail reduced and hopes a bail hearing on the matter will be held on Friday. Until then however, Holca will likely stay behind bars.

Over the last six months, Ocean County officials, advocates and recovering addicts have been looking for ways to address a rapid rise in the number of drug overdoses in their area. During 2013, there were more than 100 fatal overdoses. That number is nearly double as many as 2012, according to Anthony Castellano, the Opiate Task Force chairman. When he was addressing the issue in December of 2013, Castellano called the overdose problem an emergency situation.

The task force was launched in August of last year. Its mission is to educate and train the community about prescription drugs and heroin and to ultimately reduce the number of drug-related deaths in the county.

Coronato pledged to continue the assault on doctors and pharmacists who are part of the drug problem. "Today, I include health care professionals in my warning to dealers who prey on those fighting this tragic disease -- We are looking for you," he said.

The spike in opioid-related overdoses has also become a dire concern in the Philadelphia suburbs. Fred Harran, director of public safety in Bensalem, Bucks County, has said the dramatic spike in overdoses there is directly connected to doctors over-prescribing and he likened them to terrorists.

"We're going after every source that's supplying these drugs to the street," Harran said during an interview last October.

Freezing temperatures are raising concerns of the possibility of more ice jams along the Delaware River.

An enormous layer of ice formed on top of the Delaware River between Mercer and Bucks Counties.

“I can see just visually, that the river is not that high right now,” said Simeon Cain, a longtime Trenton resident who has frequently dealt with flooding. “It has definitely iced over in the past.”

On Monday, coast guard crews aboard two 65-foot tugboats broke apart giant chunks of ice along the river.

"You can see the ice from bank to bank," said Scott Forester, Director of Bucks County Emergency Management. "But remember, underneath that ice the water is still flowing."

Forester says there's no way to measure the depth or thickness of the ice.

"Two things could happen," Forester said. "We could have a jam or we could have a restriction. At this point it appears that the ice on the river is causing a restriction."

An ice restriction means the current is flowing beneath the ice surface. Forester says a series of warm days which would trigger a rapid snow melt would present the worst case scenario for flooding. However, with forecasts for frigid cold temperatures, arctic air and no rainfall over the next few days, officials say the layer of ice should stay put as water flows underneath.

“At this point and over the next several days, it looks like it will be a very stable situation,” Forester said.

Cain and other residents are still prepared for anything however.

"It really is a waiting game," Cain said. “People who live, especially in this neighborhood, are used to the scare.”
 

Matthew Perez says his mind won't really be at ease until he finds the mystery man and woman who helped rescue his two-year-old daughter from his car after it slid halfway down an embankment, landed on the edge of a boulder, and began teetering above Pennypack Creek during the minor snowfall this weekend.

Perez, 26, says the snow was just getting heavy as he drove downhill on Ryan Avenue, headed towards Lincoln Highway in his Subaru Outback on Saturday afternoon. His daughter Victoria was strapped into her car seat in the back of the car. The next thing Matthew remembers was hearing a loud snapping noise. He believes it was his brake line, rupturing.

"I went to go apply my brakes and I think I heard my brakes snapping. And the whole car started spinning out at the back. I spun into oncoming traffic around the car in front of me," Perez said.

"I hit the curb and I went up on the pavement where the grass and stuff was. When I tried to gain more control of the car, I was sliding on ice down the hill. In a split second it [the car] hit a tree on the side where my daughter was at and it slid down about five feet from Pennypack Creek. A boulder was the only thing holding me and my daughter from falling into the water."

Perez says moments after the accident, as he climbed out of his window and over the car in a struggle to get his daughter out of her car seat, a man appeared and offered to help carry Victoria up the hill to safety. When Matthew and the stranger made it safely to the top of the hill with his daughter, a young woman -- a nurse, as she told Matthew -- walked over and began tending to Victoria whose head was bleeding from the impact.

According to Perez, the two Good Samaritans stayed at the scene for the few minutes that it took for an ambulance to arrive, but shortly thereafter, they were nowhere to be found.

"All I know is that they were probably driving behind me. I have no clue who they were," he said.

Karen Perez, Matthew's mother, arrived at the accident scene shortly thereafter. She says, if not for the mystery man and woman, her son and granddaughter may not have survived the crash.

"If these people weren’t there, nobody would’ve seen my Matt go down there because you can’t see down there just driving by. People would’ve been looking and nobody would’ve known they were there," Karen Perez said.

"They saw it happen and they could’ve just kept driving. That guy didn’t have to go in that car and get my granddaughter. If it was another two feet over, the car would’ve had nothing to lean on; he would’ve been in the water in Pennypack Park. There would’ve been no way they would’ve survived."

Matthew's daughter suffered a few cuts on her face and a black eye from the accident but is reportedly healing well. Matthew walked away with only a bruise above his left knee. His injuries were so minor that he was able to return to his job as a driver for Customized Community Transportation (CCT) paratransit service, after only one day of recovery.

Matthew says now he just wants to find and thank the man and woman who helped rescue he and his daughter.

"The only thing that bothers me now is that I don’t know who the people were. He didn’t need to risk his life but he did it anyway and I would just love to meet him and just say thank you for his help and to acknowledge it," Perez said.

"It’s good to know that good people are still out there."

Police say remains were discovered near a hospital in Northeast Philadelphia.

The remains were found on the street on the 2600 block of Holme Avenue near Nazareth Hospital around 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

A preliminary report from Police public affairs stated that human remains were found. Later on however, an official from Nazareth Hospital as well as officers on location stated they believed the remains were that of an animal.

The Medical Examiner has not yet conducted an official investigation however.

Stay with NBC10.com for more details on this developing story.

Also on NBC10.com:

• Police ID Woman Killed in Front of Home
• Body Found Near Delaware River
• Woman Shot Dead in Front of Home

Pennsylvania Representative J.P. Miranda, of Philadelphia, has been charged in a corruption scheme to funnel money to his sister, the city's district attorney announced on Monday.

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said Miranda (D-Pa. 197th) allegedly hired a straw employee to pay his sister, Michelle Wilson, thousands of dollars over several months.

The alleged scheme began after Miranda, 34, tried to hire Wilson, 28, as his chief of staff. Williams said the Democratic state caucus denied the appointment because of their family ties.

To get around the caucus' nepotism rules, the state representative allegedly worked out a deal with Timothy Duckett, who worked as a driver on Miranda's campaign.

Duckett agreed to take a job in Miranda's office with the "sole purpose" of giving a portion of his pay to Wilson, Williams said. He was then hired as a legislative aide in December 2012.

"Duckett was told he did not have to work 40 hours a week for Miranda's legislative office," Williams said. "Miranda also told Duckett that he would only be expected to drive Miranda to different locations when called upon to do so."

Duckett was instructed not to sign in at the state representative's North Philadelphia office and in turn spent his days at a city auto body shop, prosecutors said.

In early December, Duckett began paying hundreds of dollars to Wilson, prosecutors said. Each payment, which ranged from $300 to $900, was detailed in a ledger, kept by Duckett and signed by Wilson each time payment was provided, court documents show.

After making the first payments, Duckett allegedly complained to Miranda that he could not afford his own expenses after giving the cash to the sister. Prosecutors say the representative then gave Duckett a $10,000 raise, bringing his pay to $36,000.

In all, Wilson allegedly took $2,600 in cash from Duckett.

Although Wilson was barred from working on Miranda's staff, Williams said she still acted as if she ran the representative's office.

"But his sister...still in many ways exhibited dominion, control over the legislative office and policies of State Representative Jose Miranda," the DA said.

Despite the evidence provided to the grand jury and Duckett's testimony, both Miranda and Wilson repeatedly lied to the grand jury investigating the case, prosecutors said.

Miranda represents Pa.'s 197th legislative district which covers parts of North Philadelphia, East Falls and Strawberry Mansion. He was first elected to the Pa. House of Representatives in November 2012.

He spent time working for Philadelphia Council President Darrell Clarke and as a spokesman for Pa. Sen. Shirley Kitchen, according to his biography.

Miranda and Wilson each stand charged with one count of Conflict of Interest, Conspiracy to Commit Conflict of Interest and Perjury -- all felonies. If found guilty, the duo could spend up to 17 years in prison and face a $35,000 fine.

The representative will continue to hold his seat until he resigns, his term expires or he is convicted of a crime, state officials said.

Miranda and Wilson are set to turn themselves in to the DA's office on Tuesday, the DA's office said. Miranda's attorney offered no comment on the charges.

Duckett was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony.

"NO LONGER CONTENTED WITH CORRUPTION"

Williams said Miranda's indictment is the first time in "collective memory" that the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office investigated and prosecuted an elected official from the city.

"I am proud that this office, that for so long has been silent on these types of cases will no longer abdicate our responsibility to investigate and prosecute corruption to other authorities," he said.

Citing a 1903 investigation from famed political journalist Lincoln Steffens in which he called Philadelphia "corrupt and contented," Williams said his office will no longer defer to other agencies to root out corruption in the city.

In the future we will continue to work with the U.S. Attorney and the Pennsylvania Attorney General when appropriate, but we will not be afraid to try these cases ourselves," Williams said. "From day one, I have promised Philadelphians we will have the same standard of justice for everyone regardless of your color, regardless of what zip code you live in, regardless of who your father is and how much money you have in your bank account."

The DA also dolled out kudos to his special investigations unit and public corruption task force -- a group he called his "dream team." Williams said the task force is not meant to be a "gotcha" that will only go after politicians, but also protect lawmakers when they become the victim of corruption.

Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter.

People across the region are turning up the heat inside their houses as an arctic blast sweeps through the area. For Keshona Bentley however, pressing her thermostat does nothing. Bentley has no heat in her home on Carla’s Lane in Chester, Pennsylvania.

“It’s stressful,” Bentley said. “It’s real stressful.”

But this is nothing new for Bentley and her 3-year-old daughter Kamiyah. Bentley says she hasn’t had heat for her daughter’s entire life.

“I’ve been here for like three years,” Bentley said. “The whole time I’ve been here we haven’t really had heat. So I’ve been using my oven.”

Bentley says she lost her job last October and is also behind on her bills. Bentley’s only sources of heat are the wide open oven and a space heater in the hallway outside her bedroom. The open oven presents a huge safety hazard with a toddler roaming around.

“She is always at school during the day and with me during the night,” Bentley said. “We’re always upstairs anyway.”

Bentley says she isn’t the only person living on her block without heat.

“I’m pretty sure they’re all going through the same thing,” Bentley said. “A lot of people don’t have heat.”

NBC10 reached out to the Chester Housing Authority for comment. They have not yet returned our calls however.

Coast Guard officials are at the scene of a crude oil spill in the Delaware River.

Officials say crews were off-loading crude oil from a boat in the river around 1 p.m. on Monday when a line ruptured.

Officials with the National Response Center say an estimated 1,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the Delaware River in Trainer, Delaware County near Monroe Energy LLC, located about a mile south of the Commodore Barry Bridge.

"A thousand gallons is a significant spill because when oil hits the water, it spreads out," said Tracy Carluccio of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

A response team arrived at the scene, using boom to contain the spread. Crews are now using skimmers and vacuums to remove the oil from the water.

"These things happen unfortunately all too often in the Delaware River watershed," Carluccio said. "We're a very big port." 

A pollution response team from Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay is currently at the scene to verify safe and thorough cleanup operations.

Monroe Energy is owned by Delta Airlines. The company refines products ranging from jet fuel to gasoline.

Stay with NBC10.com for more details on this developing story.

 

A person has been killed after a car rammed into the back of a trash truck along a Delaware County road.

A green sedan collided with the rear right side of the trash truck along the 400 block of Route 252 in Media, Pa. around 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, police told NBC10.

The impact of the crash crushed the front of the car and killed a person inside, police said.

Police have not said whether anyone else suffered injuries.

Authorities continue to investigate the crash. PA-252 remians closed between State Street and 3rd Street.

A New Jersey elementary school is closed Tuesday following a water main break.

The break happened around 6 a.m. on Hooper Avenue, right across from Hooper Avenue Elementary School.

Water to the school was shut off and will remain off for at least four to six hours, according to Toms River Police.

The break is also affecting traffic on the northbound lanes of Hooper Avenue. Both northbound lanes are closed.

A detour is being established.

Check back with NBC10.com for details.