Police arrested a man accused of raping a teen girl in Delaware last month.

Xavier Aiken, 23, of Milton, Delaware, allegedly sexually assaulted, strangled and physically assaulted a 17-year-old girl at a home in Selbyville, Delaware, back on Feb. 22.

The incident led to an investigation and police identified Aiken as the suspect.
On Monday around 2 p.m., Aiken was found at a home on Reynolds Pond Road in Ellendale, Delaware. He was arrested and charged with first and second degree rape, kidnapping, assault and strangulation.

Aiken was arraigned and committed to the Sussex Correctional Institution on $208,000 secured bond.

One of Philly’s biggest warm weather parties is headed to “greener pastures.”

The annual Roots Picnic hosted by Philly’s own, and “Tonight Show” house band, The Roots is moving to the Mann Music Center in Fairmount Park this summer, Roots drummer and leader Questlove said in an Instagram post. The festival, featuring various musical acts, had spent the past decade on Festival Pier in Penn’s Landing.

“It was a great 11 years at #PennsLanding: now it’s time to rise up,” Questlove wrote. “We going to greener pastures! We are moving the picnic to the MannMusicCenterGrounds in #FairmontPark. Yes! Literally GREENER PASTURES! Trust us on this!

Questlove makes a great point. “Finally we have GRASS to have a real picnic!”

Besides the green grass of the park, Questlove cited ample parking, SEPTA service and ride-hailing availability for making the Mann an ideal venue.

Besides announcing the change of venue, Questlove also began to drop some lineup hints, by announcing Asiahn. He didn’t, however, reveal an exact date for the festival.

Full details about the 2019 Roots Picnic are expected in the coming weeks.

United States airlines continue to use Boeing 737 Max 8 planes, which have been linked to two recent deadly crashes. 

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission plans to invest in a $2-million study that examines the possibility of a cross-state hyperloop tunnel. The plan is to travel across Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh and up to Scranton at a speed of 700 mph.

A NJ Transit officer was placed on administrative suspension after a video showed him dragging, punching and throwing an unresponsive man to the ground outside a train station.

Video shows the officer dragging the man outside the Trenton Transit Center. Toward the end of the video, the officer appears to punch the man in the head.

“Get up and get out, now,” the officer yells as he drags the man, the video shows.

The incident took place on Saturday night, NJ.com reported.

It wasn’t immediately clear why the man in the video was on the ground or what condition he was in after the video was taken.

In a statement on Monday, a NJ Transit spokesman said the incident “is currently under investigation with New Jersey Transit Police Department’s Internal Affairs.”

“The officer has been placed on administrative suspension pending the results of that investigation,” the spokesman added.

A widespread Verizon wireless network issue left "a ton" of East Coast users unable to send or receive text messages early Tuesday, the company confirmed via Twitter as it responded to a series of frustrated messages. 

It wasn't immediately clear when the outage started or exactly how many customers were affected. Down Detector's outage map showed virtually the entire East Coast a blazing red. While Verizon did not confirm the scope of the outage beyond the Eastern seaboard, parts of the midwest, including Illinois, Ohio and Indiana, also reported service outages. It appeared to peak around 4,350 outages reported at 9 a.m. -- yet many customers still reported issues.

Verizon Wireless' verified customer service Twitter account appeared to be responding to a half-dozen tweets a minute for at least two hours. 

One of the responses: "Verizon is currently experiencing a wireless network issue in many eastern areas. Our technicians are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it quickly. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes. *NXS" 

Another: "We know how important it is to have working service, and we're on it! We have confirmed there is a texting outage on the east coast. Our technicians are fully aware we have a ton of customers that are being effected (sic), and we're working non-stop to get this matter resolved. *IXR" 

At one point, Verizon was suggesting people fully power down their phones and turn them back on a few seconds later. It wasn't clear if that fix was working, but a handful of users who did have their issues resolved were sprinkled in with the complaining tweets.

Outage reports vastly ebbed after 10 a.m., and Verizon confirmed the problem had been resolved by 11 a.m. It wasn't clear what caused the network issue.

Two men were shot on Monday night along Stouton Street in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood. At least 18 shots were fired, hitting the two men and parked cars. Both victims were taken to Temple University Hospital for treatment.

A South Jersey native with a passion for surfing, helping Haiti and improving the environment was among the 157 people who died in an Ethiopian Airlines crash in Africa over the weekend.

Matt Vecere was a passenger on Flight 302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, Kenya, when it crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday, his employer, IQAir, said Tuesday.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the loss of our friend and colleague Matt Vecere,” IQAir, an air quality company, said on its website.

Matt Vecere grew up in South Jersey “working for his parents at various ranches and restaurants,” says a 2014 post on MattVecere.com. He lived in Cape May Courthouse but Vecere spent his summers teaching surf lessons for Heritage Surf and Sport Shop in Sea Isle City, surf shop owner Brian Heritage said.

"At a very young age Matt always went out of his way to make sure if you were gonna learn something he was gonna take the time to teach you fully the right way," Heritage said.

On his site, Vecere says he studied ocean engineering in Florida after graduating high school. He would later return to New Jersey to study at Stockton University, according to his bio.

While living back in South Jersey, Vecere picked up writing, his bio says. Vecere moved to California in 2005 where he worked in the surf industry, his bio says.

His "heartbroken" family released a statement saying that he would "be missed by many."

"An avid surfer since his youthful days on New Jersey beaches, Matt has lived in California for more than a dozen years," the family said. "Matt was excited about taking the trip to Africa to attend the UN Environment Assembly for the first time."

The UN opened its environment assembly on Monday with a moment of silence for the crash victims, which included 22 UN staff members, the assembly said.

Vecere was among those on the plane looking to learn more about environmental causes. He had a deep connection to environmental causes.

"Matt was passionate about the environment, civil rights, social and environmental justice, and advocating for those less fortunate," his family said. "His passion turned to direct action, rolling up his sleeves to serve causes where he could make a tangible difference. He volunteered countless hours with charitable organizations, at community events, and with numerous relief efforts after natural disasters."

Vecere worked as a writer for IQAir. They remembered him as dedicated and kind.

“Matt was an amazing writer, an avid surfer, and a truly selfless person," IQAir said. “We will miss his laugh, his wit, his sense of humor, but most of all, the kinship and friendship that he brought to everything he did.”

Both IQAir and the Vecere family spoke of his dedication to helping the victims of a devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

"Matt had strong connections to Haiti," his family said. "He served with various organizations and made several trips to the island, beginning after the devastating earthquake of 2010, after hurricanes, and again as recently as two weeks ago."

The news of Vecere’s death came as the Boeing 737 Max 8 plane that he died in comes under increased scrutiny. The same type of Max 8 plane crashed into the Java Sea off Indonesia in October. One-hundred-eighty-nine people died in that Lion Air crash.

Airlines in Ethiopia, Mexico, China, Brazil, Argentina and Indonesia have temporarily grounded their Max 8s. No American airlines have grounded Max 8s at this point.

The ACLU believes only the Pennsylvania Supreme Court can repair what they call the broken court system in Philadelphia. The ACLU had individuals sit in on over 2000 hearings over a year, where they say they found that bail magistrates regularly violated rules and set unusually high cash bails for low-level offenses.

A blast left a crater outside of a Philadelphia 7-Eleven store Tuesday after a backhoe punctured an underground gasoline tank.

The explosion rocked the gas pump area of the convenience store at Rising Sun and Wyoming avenues in the Feltonville neighborhood around 11:40 a.m.

The fire was quickly brought under control, fire dispatchers said.

Philadelphia police said the construction vehicle punctured a hole in the storage tank, which is connected to gas pumps, and sparked an explosion. The gas station was heavily damaged, but the convenience store was not damaged.

No injuries were reported.

The contractor working to remove the gas tank at the 7-Eleven is certified to do so by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and had a permit to do so, Philadelphia Licenses and Inspections says.

The area where the blast occurred was closed to customers during construction, 7-Eleven said in a statement. 

"The safety and well-being of our customers and employees is of [utmost] importance," 7-Eleven said. "7-Eleven is working closely with local authorities to identify the cause."

Philly police notified Homeland Security about the blast, police said.

An investigation is underway after a horse was found dead in Fairmount Park Tuesday morning.

The animal’s body was discovered off Fairmount Avenue and Chamounix Road. The horse was not malnourished and had a large, fresh wound on its neck that was described by investigators as unnatural.

Responding SPCA officers used specialized equipment to load the horse’s body onto a trailer. They moved the horse to their Chester County facility to determine a cause of death.

“It’s hard to comprehend why you would just leave your animal in that condition,” Nicole Wilson of the Pennsylvania SPCA said.

Investigators are unsure if someone dumped the horse’s body or killed the animal at the location where it was found. They’re also not sure if the animal had an underlying medical condition.

“I think the biggest issue for us right now is just trying to figure out who owned that animal and what led that animal to being placed there,” Wilson said.

People are commonly seen riding horses in Fairmount Park. NBC10 reached out to three of the closest stables to where the body was found. Representatives for all three said they weren’t missing a horse.

If you have any information on the incident, please call the Pennsylvania SPCA at 866-601-7722.

Hollywood Actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman are among almost 50 people charged in a nationwide college cheating scandal. The scam focused on getting students into universities as athletes and helping potential students cheat on their college exams. Local students speak out on how they feel about the college cheating scandal.

A little girl from Atlantic City that was born weighing less than a pound celebrated her first birthday. She had the lowest weight of any baby born at Atlantic Care in 45 years. They call her Mighty Makenna because she never gave up.

Nearly every incumbent in Philadelphia's elected public offices faces a challenge to his or her seat in the May 21 municipal primary elections, which includes one of the most crowded fields in memory for the seven at-large City Council seats. 

All 17 Council seats -- 10 district seats and seven at-large -- as well as mayor, sheriff, city commissioners and register of wills are up for election.

Mayor Jim Kenney faces challenges from some well-known candidates, including former longtime City Controller Alan Butkovitz and Pennsylvania state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams. Kenney defeated Williams four years ago in the Democratic primary.

The ballot is set, not counting challenges to candidates' petitions, as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, which was the deadline for submitting the required signatures to become a candidate.

More than 30 Democrats are competing for the five at-large seats allotted to the city's majority party, with the large number of candidates due in part to the rare retirements of two incumbents: Blondell Reynolds-Brown and Bill Greenlee.

Here's an incomplete list of those candidates who filed for the 10 Council at-large seats. Republican candidates are vying for the two seats allotted to the minority party.

Bill Heeney, Republican

Ethelind Baylor, Democrat

Beth Finn, Democrat

Justin DiBerardinis, Democrat

Allan Domb, Democrat (Incumbent)

Irina Goldstein, Democrat

Billy Thompson, Democrat

Adrian Rivera Reyes, Democrat

Erika Almiron, Democrat

Wayne Allen, Democrat

Sherrie Cohen, Democrat

David Conroy, Democrat

Mark Ross, Democrat

Latrice Bryant, Democrat

Bobbie Curry, Democrat

Vinny Black, Democrat

Helen Gym, Democrat (Incumbent)

Mike Stack, Democrat

Isaiah Thomas, Democrat

Edwin Santana, Demcrat

Derek Green, Democrat (Incumbent)

Katherine Gilmore Richardson, Democrat

Eryn Santamoor, Democrat

Matt Wolfe, Republican

Sandra Dungee Glenn, Democrat

David Oh, Republican (Incumbent)

Al Taubenberger, Republican (Incumbent)

Fareed Abdullah, Democrat

Dan Tinney, Republican

Fernando Trevino, Democrat

Drew Murray, Republican

Deja Lynn Alvarez, Democrat

Janice Tangrdi, Democrat

Wayne Edmund Dorsey, Democrat

Asa Khalif, Democrat

Joseph Diorio, Democrat

Although the 76ers celebrated a 106 to 89 victory against the Indiana Pacers, they were not the only ones who had an on-the-court win Sunday. 

Arguably, the most memorable shot of the game was taken by Sixers fan and high school treacher Mark Naimoli. 

During halftime, Naimoli successfully made a basket from half-court in exchange for free season tickets for the 2019-2020 season.

The crowd went wild as Naimoli launched a picture-perfect shot into the net and ran around the court celebrating like a pro. 

A longtime Sixers fan, Naimoli has been buying season tickets for years. But this time he earned his tickets and the respect of his fellow fans.

A high school senior at Archbishop Ryan High School received a huge surprise. She was offered a scholarship to Harcum College. NBC10 photojournalist Jim Friedman captured Rebecca Overwise's special moment just weeks after she suffered a tragedy.

A security guard shot and killed a knife-wielding man inside a North Philly cellphone store Tuesday afternoon, according to police.

Police say an unidentified man who was armed with a butcher knife entered the My Phillie Wireless store on the 2700 block of North Broad Street around 12:30 p.m. and ran behind the counter.

A security guard who was on duty shot the man once in the chest. The man was taken to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 1:36 p.m.

Police say a weapon was recovered.

Authorities are warning residents in Delaware County about a new phone scam affecting people in the area.

The Delaware County Sheriff's Office said it has received several reports about fraudulent phone calls from people claiming to be employees and deputies at the sheriff's office.

"The scammers tell the target there is a warrant for their arrest, or they are subject to arrest for failing to appear for jury duty," the Delaware County Sheriff's Office said.

However, the sheriff's office clarified that they do not contact by telephone to ask people for personal information or payment to avoid jury duty and arrest.

Victims of the phone scam say the scammers are calling from unknown phone numbers and requesting payment or personal information, such as social security and bank information.

Police are encouraging anyone who receives one of these phone calls to hang up immediately without giving away any valuable information and call the sheriff's office at 610-891-4296.

Fifty people, including two actresses, were indicted for allegedly paying bribes to get their children into elite schools. Local, first generation, college-bound students weighed in on the scandal.

SEPTA transit police officers are heading back to protecting commuters in the Philadelphia region.

The Fraternal Order of Transit Police — Lodge 109, which represents 178 officers sworn to protect riders and property on trains, buses and trolleys and at area stations, and SEPTA management reached a tentative agreement Tuesday on a new, five-year contract. The officers returned to work at 11 p.m.

"Obviously we're excited about getting back to work," Union Vice President Troy Parham said. "Public safety was always a concern and something our officers work hard to make an everyday reality."

A rep from the union told NBC10 their concerns over body cameras, wages and work rules have been met. Further details on the tentative contract will be announced on a later date.

The strike, which saw SEPTA officers walking picket lines rather than concourses and station platforms, lasted six days.

SEPTA management had a contingency plan in place during the work stoppage, Andrew Busch, SEPTA's chief spokesman, said. Busch said 49 police supervisors worked 12-hour shifts patrolling systemwide. Police in Philadelphia and other towns that SEPTA serves also stepped up patrols, he added.

The first morning commute with SEPTA officers off the job, however, was marred by deadly a stabbing on the Broad Street Line concourse in Center City. 

The union said its members worked without a contract for more than a year before walking off the job last Wednesday.

Omari Bervine, president of FOP Lodge 109, said low wages leading to turnover in the ranks led to the strike.

“Over the past couple of years we have lost nearly 50 officers, which is approximately 20 percent of our workforce to better paying jobs,” Bervine said.

The union claims that public safety was being put at risk.

“This has left a dangerous void in our deployment, making the transit system significantly less safe, with less officers available to respond to calls for service,” Bervine said. “Meanwhile, the disparity in pay between our officers and their immediate supervisors and other management level employees has ballooned to over $30,000, which includes wage increases and bonuses as our pay has remained stagnant for years.”

NBC10 will update this story with details of the new contract agreement.