An alleged thief accused of swiping an Irish flag bearing a family-crest from a home in Delaware County last weekend has returned the flag -- and written an apology letter to the owner.
NBC10 first brought you the story early this week after a man was caught on a home-security camera overnight last Saturday into Sunday taking the flag from the front of a house on the 600 block of Convent Road in Aston Township.
"At first he tries to unscrew it and I guess he was unscrewing the wrong one," said the flag’s owner, Mark Dougherty, after the theft.
The video shows the thief then twist the pole until it snaps. He then runs off down the street.
Dougherty and his father Paul Dougherty told NBC10 the flag bears their family crest, dating back decades.
“I was a little bit upset because of what it was,” Paul said. “It had a lot of meaning to us as a family.”
The Doughertys now have their sentimental flag back: The thief returned the flag, wrote a letter apologizing for putting the family through the distress and included $20 to fix the flag pole broken in the theft.
Paul said the flag means a lot to his father and Mark’s grandfather.
“He flew that flag out here for years,” Paul said. “Any kind of holiday he always had that flag out. When he was buried this year we folded it up and had that on the casket.”
Before the flag was returned, the Doughertys said they weren't interested in pressing charges -- just getting their family-crest flag back undamaged.
“We just want it back,” he said. “We’re not looking to press charges or go any further with that if we can get it back in one piece.”
A suspected serial robber accused of pulling off at least two purse-snatchings in a popular Delaware vacation spot has been nabbed, and police are crediting the public's tips with helping get the alleged thief off the street.
Delaware State Police on Saturday morning said they arrested a Lewes man, 28-year-old Anthony Lynch, on Friday, and have connected him to at least two robberies in the Rehoboth Beach area.
In one of the incidents, which occurred about 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, police said a 22-year-old woman was sitting outside the Nautica outlet at the Midway Outlets just north of Rehoboth Beach when a man walked up to her and asked to use her lighter, but then snatched her purse and ran away. Her purse was later found inside a Superfresh store with some of its contents still in it, but cash missing. The woman suffered slight injuries in the purse-snatching, but didn't require medical attention, police said.
Lynch, who was arrested without incident at a residence on Wil King Road in Lewes, is charged with two counts of second-degree robbery. He is being held at the Sussex Correctional Institution in lieu of $8,000 secured bail, police said.
Delaware State Police said they received numerous tips through crimestoppers after releasing information about the earlier purse-snatchings, along with descriptions of the suspect, which helped them close the case.
Organizers released the schedule and set times for the 4th annual Budweiser Made in America Festival on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway Labor Day Weekend.
Beyonce, who performed at the Festival two years ago, will be the headliner Saturday while the Weeknd will headline Sunday night. Check out the full schedule below:
SEPTA also released information on routes and detours for the show. The following bus routes will be on temporary detour starting Friday, Sept. 4 at 10 a.m. through Monday, Sept. 7 at 5 a.m:
Routes 7, 32, 33, 38, 43, and 48
Transit will operate on a normal Saturday and Sunday schedule while local service on the Market Frankford and Broad Street lines will operate every five minutes. All SEPTA Regional Rail Parking lots will also offer parking on the weekend.
CLICK HERE for more information.
To accommodate the construction of the Made In America festival area, there will also be road closures surrounding the area.
Beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday September 5th the following closures will be in effect:
- The entire width of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, beginning at 18th Street extending through Eakins Oval (25th Street) and behind the Philadelphia Museum of Art
- 21st Street, between Winter & Spring Garden streets
- 22nd Street, between Race Street & Fairmount Avenue
- 23rd Street, between the Benjamin Franklin Parkway & Fairmount Avenue
- 24th Street, between Fairmount & Pennsylvania avenues
- 25th Street, between Fairmount & Pennsylvania avenues
- Spring Garden Street, between 20th & 31st streets, including the Spring Garden Street
tunnel
- Kelly Drive, between 23rd Street & Fairmount Avenue
- Martin Luther King Drive, between the Falls Bridge & the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
- Pennsylvania Avenue, between Hamilton & Fairmount Avenues
- 2000 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, between the Whole Foods store & 21st Street (the
eastern half of the block, from the Whole Foods Market to 20th Street, will remain open to allow access to the store)
- Park Towne Place between 22nd & 24th streets
- I-676 Westbound off-ramp at 22nd Street (the I-676 Eastbound off-ramp at 23rd Street will be open)
There will be no parking allowed in the following areas:
- Pennsylvania Avenue between 22nd Street & Fairmount Avenue (south side of street)
- Winter Street between 20th & 22nd Streets (both sides of street)
- 20th Street between Vine Street & Callowhill Street (east side of street)
- 21st Street between the Benjamin Franklin Parkway & Race Street (both sides of street)
- 22nd Street between Winter & Spring Garden Streets (both sides of street)
- Park Towne Place between 22nd & 24th Streets (both sides of street)
Parking and roads will reopen by 5 a.m. Tuesday.
Police in Camden County were investigating a shooting at an apartment complex that left a man in critical condition early Saturday morning.
Officers and medics responded to the Woodland Village apartments, on the 400 block of E. Gibbsboro Road in Lindenwold, at 1:12 a.m. for the report of a person shot, officials said.
The victim, a 34-year-old man, was shot in the apartment complex's parking lot, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. He was taken by ambulance to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, where he remained in critical condition later Saturday.
Police said a possible person of interest described as a man wearing a black shirt with long white sleeves and a black hat with a white brim was seen running from the area. There was no additional information on a suspect or motive released.
Officials urged tipsters to contact Camden County Prosecutor's Office Detective Paul Audino at 856-225-8449 or Lindenwold Police Detective Ron Burrows at 856-784-4800, or email a tip to ccpotips@ccprosecutor.org.
Hundreds packed the center of a South Jersey football field Saturday night, candles in hand, to memorialize a 14-year-old South Jersey girl who apparently died in her sleep at a sleepover with her soccer team overnight Friday.
Kara Lemanowicz was found dead Saturday morning at a home along the 200 block of Barnsboro Road in Mantua Township, police told NBC10. She and teammates from her soccer club had spent the night at the home.
Jamie McGroarty, head coach of the Eastern High School girls soccer team, knew Lemanowicz since she was a child. He called her death "a heart wrenching blow to all that knew her."
"She was a goofy, fun-loving kid who always was smiling," he said. Lemanowicz was set to play on the high school team as a freshman.
"She always played the game with a fun loving attitude and absolutely loved the game," McGroarty said.
Police said the death did not appear to be suspicious and is believed to have been caused by a medical condition. The investigation is ongoing.
Lemanowicz was being remembered by friends as an "angel" in social media posts. A tweet from the Eastern Girls Soccer team said she "went to sleep with a smile and among friends."
Hundreds of supporters joined Lemanowicz's teammates Saturday at an 8 p.m. candlelight vigil at Giangiulio Field in Voorhees Township.
Intense flames shot through the roof of townhomes in a Chester County, Pennsylvania neighborhood Saturday afternoon.
The fire broke out at a home along the 1000 block of Armstrong Lane around 4:30 p.m., county dispatchers said. Flames quickly spread to two adjoining homes causing extensive damage.
Video posted to social media showed thick black smoke billowing into the air as firefighters worked to knock down the fire.
Fire crews doused the bulk of the flames by 5 p.m., officials said. The American Red Cross was being called in to assist 15 people displaced by the fire.
There were no reports of injuries.
