A civil lawsuit filed against the School District of Philadelphia and a teacher in connection with the abduction and rape of a 5-year-old Cobbs Creek girl can move forward, a federal judge has ruled.
The defendants had filed a motion to dismiss the case in federal court in Philadelphia.
The girl's family filed a civil rights lawsuit against the school district and Reginald Littlejohn, a teacher at Bryant Elementary School, alleging officials failed to follow school policy when they released the 5-year-old into the care of an unknown person.
School officials had believed that the person, who was dressed in Muslim clothing, was the girl's mother. Police later identified the abductor as Christina Regusters. The 21-year-old then kidnapped and brutally sexually abused the girl in her Cobbs Creek home. She was found guilty of the crimes earlier this year.
U.S. District Court Judge Jan DuBois ruled there was enough evidence to show the girl's constitutional right to personal safety was denied for the civil case to move forward.
A spokesperson for the School District of Philadelphia said it does not comment on pending legal action.
Regusters is due to be sentenced in the criminal side of the case on Jan 20, 2015.
Mason Wartman, owner of Rosa’s Fresh Pizza, is trying to help Philly's homeless with dollar slices and one simple question ...
" ... Can I get one off the wall?"
The interior of Rosa’s in Center City Philadelphia is covered in neon and even some pizza-shaped post-it notes. Those notes reflect prepaid slices bought by customers who can afford it, for people who can’t.
If you're in need, you simply ask to grab a post-it off the wall.
The program started just seven months ago, but the idea was brewing long before Wartman opened Rosa’s on 11th Street between Market and Chestnut streets.
Wartman, a native of Plymouth Meeting liked the $1 slice concept — popular in pizzerias in New York City where he spent three years working on Wall Street after graduating from Babson Business College in 2010.
In 2013, he left Wall Street behind and moved back to Philadelphia. That's when he decided to open Rosa's, named after his mother.
When he opened his shop last December, he found himself giving slices to people who came in without enough money. The prepaid slice program was born when a customer came in to buy pizza and asked if he could buy a slice for the next homeless person who came in off the street.
Since then, nearly forty slices have been given to the homeless daily.
One button on the register is pushed for every prepaid slice purchased and another button, labeled with a heart, is clicked for each slice that’s redeemed.
Last week, Rosa’s gave away their 7,000th slice of pizza.
Wartman says the idea behind the prepaid slice is similar to a practice in Italy called "caffe sospeso" where someone buys two cups of coffee, but leaves one behind for someone else to enjoy.
As winter approaches, Rosa's will sell sweatshirts in a similar way. Each sweatshirt will be paid for by Rosa customers and passed on to someone in need. The sweatshirts have inserts with a daily schedule of nearby shelters offering free meals.
Over the past three months, R. J. Mishler has made Rosa's part of his weekly routine while he looks for a job. He often buys an entire pie for just $8.
“You can’t beat it. It’s my breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
Mishler has bought a few of the prepaid slices before but has yet to take one from "off the wall.”
"Those are for the people who actually need it," said Mishler. "I still have a home.”
Wartman admits he gave up on determining whether people were "deserving" of their "free" slice.
"We don’t ask questions."
From LOVE Park to the world! Philly Jesus’ recent legal woes – and social media’s reaction to the arrest — have made him a celebrity near and far.
"Everything's happening for a reason and God's going to use this negative situation to push me into the destiny that he has for me so I can spread the word of God to an even larger audience in a global fashion," Michael Grant, aka Philly Jesus, told NBC10.com.
The BBC (yes, that British Broadcasting Corporation) recently announced it would tell the story of Philly Jesus as he spreads to word of Christ in Center City Philadelphia.
"They focused on why I do what I do. I told them that the same way they bring the story of Christ to the big screen or like to a play I bring it to the streets of Philadelphia. I use my passion for the performing arts to share Christ in a fun, likable manner."
The BBC story came after Grant’s disorderly conduct arrest in Love Park earlier this month that led to the #FreePhillyJesus hashtag and a rise in Grant’s exposure.
"I believe that God is using the arrest that happened to turn it around for the good, to spread his message in a worldwide international way."
Grant, 28, a former heroin addict picked up the frock – taking on the 'Philly Jesus' persona – about one year ago after he found Christ while being treated in a court-ordered treatment program.
Since then, he makes a daily pilgrimage to Love Park where he takes photos with tourists and serves as the park's de facto preacher.
"I wear what I wear as a conversation starter, instead of me going up to people and pushing the gospel on them they'll up come up to me and ask for a photo with me... that opens up a conversation to even speak about God and the gospel.
“I tell people I do not charge for the photos but tips are always welcome,” said Grant.
Being Philly Jesus is now Grant’s full time gig.
"I'm making this into a career, I do this because it makes me happy, I feel like it's my calling that God has given me."
Grant grew up in the theater and believes that training helps him be Philly Jesus.
"I'm using the talent that God gave me for the stage and using it for his glory," Grant said. “I don’t want people to think of Michael Grant when they look at me I want them to think of Jesus."
Grant now wears a combination of about four different outfits as he holds court in Love Park.
"Just like Batman has a Bat Cave, Philly Jesus has a Philly Jesus Cave," said Grant. "I keep my wardrobe; I keep my vigilante uniform, in the Philly Jesus Cave."
Grant said he couldn't speak about his pending legal case but he could speak about his future even if he wouldn't reveal exact details of what's next.
"I'm gonna keep it as a surprise."
One thing is, however certain, according to Grant.
"I plan on doing this for the rest of my life. And, as I age, and probably when I start to get white hairs and start to get gray hairs on my face, I'll morph into Philly Moses," Grant said with a laugh.
Grant understands that despite his celebrity, not everyone is as thrilled about the Philly Jesus phenomena as Grant's more than 5,700 Instagram and nearly 1,600 Twitter followers.
"To all my haters who tell me to stop what I'm doing, 'you're gonna to go to hell... you're being sacrilegious, or you're being blasphemes,' I just want to tell all my haters that 'I love you and be patient,' I got more for you to hate on coming soon."
A rapper convicted of fatally shooting a Philadelphia police officer is scheduled to be executed Jan. 8.
Gov. Tom Corbett signed a death warrant Friday for Christopher Roney, known as Cool C.
The 44-year-old Roney was convicted of first-degree murder in the Jan. 2, 1996 death of Officer Lauretha Vaird.
Prosecutors say he shot the nine-year police veteran in the abdomen during a bank holdup.
Roney has maintained he's innocent.
He had two rap hits, "Glamorous Life" in 1989 and "Life in the Ghetto" in 1990.
Corbett also authorized the executions of Mark Duane Edwards on Jan. 13 and Dennis Reed on Jan 15.
Edwards was convicted in the 2002 shooting deaths of a couple and their pregnant teenage daughter.
Reed was convicted of fatally shooting his girlfriend in 2001.
A woman is fighting for her life after she was struck by a truck in South Philadelphia Wednesday.
The 60-year-old woman was on Front Street and Snyder Avenue when she was hit by the vehicle. She was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where she is in extremely critical condition.
Officials have not yet revealed whether the accident was a hit-and-run.
This story is developing. Stay with NBC10.com for updates.
With one of the busiest travel days of the year on the horizon, SEPTA Union leaders are warning that some engineers are working too many hours, putting riders in danger. SEPTA officials believe the warning is unnecessary however.
“The locomotive engineers are working 14 hour days, six days a week,” said Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) vice president Steve Bruno. “It’s something of an unsafe condition and frankly it’s becoming dangerous.”
BLET and Trainmen Division 71, which represents 200 SEPTA locomotive engineers, asked the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to reject SEPTA’s request for an extended waiver of safety rules, claiming SEPTA failed to follow its own scheduling procedures. They also claimed the waiver would decrease the amount of rest time available for train engineers.
“This is no way to run a railroad,” Bruno said. “Safety has to come first – but SEPTA is more interested in cutting payroll costs. They haven’t lived up to the promises they made when they got the first waiver; there’s no reason to give them a second one.”
The Union also accused SEPTA of not following safety rules for the engineers who fill in for sick and vacation coverage. BLET National President Dennis Pierce wrote a letter to the FRA, claiming SEPTA has systematically reduced “the number of locomotive engineer assignments while simultaneously increasing the number of trains and route miles in the public schedule.”
The Union claimed SEPTA is overworking its locomotive engineers and that six-day workweeks are routine for them.
“We’re seeing a lot of engineers reporting for work having had their sleep interrupted and frankly in an unrested and unsafe condition,” Bruno said.
Last year four people died after a Metro-North Railroad train derailed in New York. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) blamed the accident on a sleep-deprived engineer who had a drastic shift in his work schedule.
BLET officials told NBC10 they’ve linked several accidents and violations to fatigued engineers. SEPTA officials denied those claims however.
“Each one of those particular incidents, the individuals that were involved in it had more than 24 hours off before working on that particular day,” said SEPTA Official Ron Hopkins.
Hopkins said safety was SEPTA’s top priority. He also told NBC10 SEPTA follows all federal regulations when it comes to worker fatigue.
“We believe fatigue can be an issue,” Hopkins said. “So we pay close attention to it when we do our scheduling of our regular runs. Also we make sure that if there are any extra runs there’s a meeting held between our management team as well as the union.”
SEPTA officials also told NBC10 they’re in the process of hiring and training more engineers which they said would help reduce sixth days and overtime issues.
