Police are on the hunt for an armed serial robber who they say targeted several Camden County businesses and tried to sexually assault his most recent robbery victim.
On Sunday shortly before 7 p.m., police say the suspect walked into Lilly’s Market on the 2000 block of Woodlynne Avenue in Woodlynne.
Police say he asked for a pack of cigarettes and was told that the store didn’t carry the brand that he asked for. He then picked up items from around the store and walked to the checkout counter as If he was going to buy them, according to investigators.
He then allegedly took out a silver handgun and demanded money from the register.
Police say the suspect locked the front door of the business and ordered the woman working at the register to go into the bathroom. He then allegedly locked the bathroom door, exposed himself to the woman and then tried to force her to give him fellatio. Police say the woman pretended she didn’t understand him and he fled the scene.
Credit: Camden County Prosecutor's Office
Police say the same man is responsible for four other robberies in Camden County.
On November 20, police say he robbed Delmonte News on the 2900 block of Mount Ephraim Avenue in Camden.
On November 19, he allegedly robbed the Mucha Luncha Store on the 3000 block of Mount Ephraim Avenue in Haddon Township.
On November 14, he allegedly robbed the Xpress Mart on the 2500 block of Woodlynne Avenue in Woodlynne.
Finally, on November 11, he allegedly robbed someone on the street at Woodlynne and Evergreen Avenues in Woodlynne.
The suspect is described as a dark skinned male standing between 5-foot-4 and 5-foot-5. Police say he was wearing a gray or white hooded sweatshirt, black jacket and a ski mask.
If you have any information on his whereabouts, please call the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office at 856-225-8449.
Holliday Fenoglio Fowler is stepping up its Philadelphia presence and is seeking to establish an office in the city.
The company focuses on commercial investment sales and lending.
That another commercial real estate brokerage has decided to set up shop in Philadelphia speaks to the health of the market and the opportunity it presents. However, for existing firms, it’s a bit of a threat that attempts to eat into the territory covered by other firms with Philadelphia offices such as Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, CBRE Inc., Colliers International, Cushman & Wakefield and others big and small. Read more about this story at PBJ.com
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With the season of giving underway, it’s a good time for companies to reassess or even expand their humanitarian activities. This can mean encouraging employees to volunteer at a local nonprofit or donating to medical research. It can also mean developing a program that diverts waste products to a nonprofit that can reuse them.
No matter the cause, it is most important for your company to develop an ongoing relationship with a nonprofit that aligns with your values and employees. When both parties understand each other’s perspectives and goals, it makes it that much easier to identify ways to collaborate.
Although the ideas below are intentionally broad as to be applicable to most companies, they avoid the most obvious recommendations: donate more, volunteer more, and be as sustainable and community-minded as possible.
1. Become a skillsbased volunteer
While most nonprofits could use more funding, there are many other services they need that businesses are uniquely suited to offer. Technical and financial support, for example, can be a big help to volunteerrun nonprofits who have minimal expertise beyond the social service they provide. Read about the other four tips at PBJ.com
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How fast have you driven? 80? 90? 100 mph?
Try 186 mph.
That’s how fast at least one motorcyclist sped along Philadelphia-area highways. Using a camera strapped to the dashboard of his Suzuki motorcycle, the driver, who posted to YouTube under the name Robert Bobby, zooms northbound on Interstate 95 through Bucks County, Pa.
He eventually speeds over the Delaware River into New Jersey on the way to the New Jersey Turnpike. The speed limits on the roads range from 55-65 mph.
During the nighttime trek, the cyclist weaves around cars and tractor trailers that are going at least half his speed. The cycle, which according to the manufacturer tops out at 186 mph, also bumps over uneven and broken roads leaving the watcher just wondering when the excessive speeding might go awry.
A crash at such high speeds would almost certainly result in catastrophe for the cyclist and other drivers caught in its wake. For comparison, driver Brian Gillespie was traveling around 180 mph when his modified Honda Insight race car was annihilated in this horrific desert crash. Luckily, he was protected by the car’s safety features – something that’s not available on a motorcycle.
PennDot data shows there have been 218 fatal motorcycle crashes over the past five years on highways in the five county region. Those crashes took the lives of 220 people. Nearly 50-percent of those were speed related, according to PennDot.
"It’s really unfortunate and really, really sad," Pennsylvania State Trooper Deniea Durham said of the video. "That’s obviously dangerous."
Durham says it’s not uncommon to see motorcyclists traveling at these high speeds, but says Bobby’s video is the first she’s seen made in Pa. Other videos posted to YouTube show groups of motorcyclists speeding down highways, doing tricks and in one case, drag racing a police officer.
State police from Pennsylvania and New Jersey both say should troopers see a motorcyclist speeding, they would make attempts to pull them over. Asking whether troopers would engage in a high-speed pursuit, both departments said that’s hard to answer.
Both have complex pursuit policies, that are not disclosed to the public, which account for a variety of factors like time of day, road congestion and more.
"At the end of the day, they’re going to try and stop them," said Sgt. Adam Grossman with the N.J. State Police. “It all comes down to safety. Safety for the trooper and safety for the public.”
While police do not condone breaking the law, let alone posting videos of yourself doing it, officials say seeing such blatant disregards for safety only heightens their awareness.
“Videos like that encourage us to be more vigilant in what we do,” Durham said.
NBC10 made multiple attempts to reach Bobby and discuss the post, but did not hear back.
Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter.
Thanksgiving got off to an unpleasant start for the driver of a car in South Philly.
He was arrested and accused of driving under the influence after a car crash that sent another driver to the hospital.
The crash happened at the intersection of 6th and Dickinson just before 4 a.m.
Police with the Accident Investigation Unit plan to look through video from surveillance cameras in the neighborhood to learn more about who is at fault.
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An investigation by The Trenton Times reveals that Trenton Mayor Tony Mack hasn't been billed for water usage at a commercial property he owns for year.
Trenton Water Works records show the meter at that property has registered zero usage for nearly five years, according to the report.
The property in question is on West State Street. Mack used it as his campaign headquarters in 2010. According to the paper:
The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into corruption at the Trenton Water Works shortly after Mack took office in 2010, eventually arresting the mayor’s half-brother Stanley “Muscles” Davis, who is now serving a six-year prison sentence. - The Times
Mayor Mack did not respond to the paper's request for comment.
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Philly police are on the hunt for a car that likely has significant front-end damage.
And and unfortunate homeowner has some front steps damage as a result.
The car police are looking for slammed into another vehicle in South Philadelphia early this morning along the 1900 block of South 9th Street. The car that got rear-ended then hit a fire hydrant and the front steps of a home.
The driver of the car that caused the crash took off, police say.
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The New Jersey waitress whose story has been questioned after she claimed she received an anti-gay note instead of a tip on a restaurant bill was dishonorably discharged from the Marines last spring after she stopped showing up, NBC 4 New York has learned.
Dayna Morales, a server at Gallop Asian Bistro in Bridgewater, had posted a photo on Facebook earlier this month showing the bill with a line through the tip area. The photo of the receipt showed someone had written, "I'm sorry but I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle."
A New Jersey couple came forward to NBC 4 New York and said this week that the receipt was theirs but that they had left a tip and did not write a note, suggesting it was used for a hoax. The handwriting, they said, was not theirs, and they also supplied what they said was a credit card statement showing they were charged for the total plus the $18 tip.
NBC 4 New York learned Wednesday from a Pentagon source that Morales was dismissed from the Marine Reserve Corps in May because she wasn't attending drills. It wasn't immediately clear how often those drills were held, and Morales did not respond to a request for comment.
She was stationed in Newburgh, N.Y., and began serving in July 2009, military sources said.
A woman who served with Morales told NBC 4 New York that the commitment is a serious one.
"I wouldn't want anyone to think she was a part of my Marine Corps family, because she's not," said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous because she is still on active duty.
Others who say they knew her tell NBC 4 New York there were things about her background that didn't seem to add up.
A woman who says she and Morales worked together at a Cheesecake Factory in Nyack, N.Y., last year said Morales told coworkers she had brain cancer.
"She came in with her hair shaved because she wanted to shave it herself before she lost it," said Jacqie Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick said Morales also leaned on the cancer story to accept offers of help from friends at work.
Then, she abruptly quit, according to Fitzpatrick, and her coworkers didn't see her again until she appeared in news reports about the receipt.
The Cheesecake Factory declined to comment.
Gallop Asian Bistro said Wednesday that it was still investigating and that Morales is not on the work schedule for now.
A plan to partially privatize a Delaware County town’s all-volunteer ambulance service has first responders concerned about costs for residents and as well as the future of their organization.
The Township of Springfield, in Delaware County, Pa., is ready to ink a deal that would remove the 65-year-old Springfield Ambulance Corps as the primary responder to medical emergencies in the town of 23,000 during peak weekday times – typically 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Instead, a crew from Crozer-Keystone Health System would be first to handle calls, with the ambulance corps becoming backup during those hours. The corps would still remain the primary responder for night, overnight and weekend emergencies.
“I’d like the residents to be aware that this is a change that may affect them, specifically with respect to what charges they should expect to pay in the future should this proposal go through,” said Kelly Sweeney, President of the Springfield Ambulance Corps.
Currently, Springfield Ambulance Corps offers residents the opportunity to make a yearly donation of $25 or more for what they call “subscription ambulance service.” Through that subscription, the corps forgives the deductible and copay costs for two ambulance runs a year. Those costs can run anywhere between $80 and hundreds of dollars depending on health plans.
More than half of the town's 8,938 households take part in the subscription service, according to the corps.
Residents who are taken to the hospital by a Crozer ambulance would not be able to have ambulance costs forgiven, according to Sweeney.
“We’ve been told by Crozer that Crozer is not legally able to waive these co-payments and deductibles,” she said.
Sweeney and other leaders of the 90-member ambulance corps says they’re concerned the reduction in service will also hurt them financially. The corps estimates the change could cut the number of calls they respond to by more than 75-percent. Such a change can also result in a drop in volunteers.
“We’d be asking volunteers to sit there for 12 hours and maybe get one call a day. On average it’s not going to be that,” she said. “The volunteers are there because they want to do something, want to be there to help people.”
The Springfield Township Board of Directors, who run the town, say the change is meant to improve service and care to residents, not to minimize the volunteer’s work.
In a lengthy statement to NBC10, officials say there’s typically only one ambulance in service during peak times. The addition of the private firm would make a second ambulance available during the busiest times.
“This decision was not done to hurt the Springfield Volunteer Ambulance Corps, but to enhance service by adding flexibility and resources,” the statement read in part. “The Board of Commissioners understands that the volunteers who serve in the Corps have some concerns about the new relationship with Crozer Keystone. The Board wants to make clear that the important service and role they play in our township is not being eliminated.”
The ambulance corps does have a second backup ambulance, which is placed in service when extra crews are available, according to Sweeney. Otherwise, it is used to cover a rig which may be broken.
Springfield officials also say the added ambulance service will cut down on the number of requests for mutual aid the town makes. Through mutual aid, ambulances from adjacent towns respond to emergency calls when the Springfield ambulance is out of service or already on a call. It takes at least six additional minutes for an ambulance to be dispatched through mutual aid, Sweeney said.
Over the past year, Springfield received more than 2,200 medical calls and for 400 of those calls crews from other towns came in to respond, township officials say.
Sweeney says she’s been requesting data on the number of mutual aid responses from township officials, but has yet to receive them. But, she said based on the data they have, the organization only missed one primary call over the past year due to a scheduling conflict. She says the other instances could be because crews were already out on a call.
Springfield officials say the Crozer ambulance contract will not cost the township or taxpayers any money. They say the service will be paid for through the patient’s insurance. If the patient’s medical condition does not require them being sent to the closest hospital immediately, the patient can choose the hospital to be taken to. Officials say this will alleviate monopoly concerns.
Officials plan to sign the contract in the coming days. The new ambulance service will be operated out of the Springfield Fire Department and is expected to begin on Jan. 1, 2014. Sweeney said the corps asked for the contract to be released to the public for comment, but that officials said that wouldn’t be possible until after it is singed.
“That’s concerning to me because they’re not being given the opportunity to go through [the contract] and make meaningful comments on what will ultimately affect them,” she said.
Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter.
