It was a pivotal moment in modern Philadelphia history - a listening device found in the sitting mayor’s office.

The devices’ discovery swayed an election. 12 years ago FBI special agent J.J. Klaver planted two listening devices in then mayor John Streets’ office.

It was less than one month before an election. Street was down in the polls to Republican Sam Katz.

The FBI was investigating a pay for play scheme involving city contracts and had worked for months to listen in on conversations inside Street’s office.

“Our rouse if you will, was we were doing a security survey post 9-11," Klaver said of how he and his team first snuck into Street’s office to draft a map for planning purposes.

“I wanted to see what did the mayor’s office looked like,” he said. “Did it have a drop ceiling? What was the furniture? Did it have any alarms? Things like that.”

On Saturday, September 20, 2003 Klaver and two other agents snuck into city hall and broke into Streets’ office.

Once inside Klaver put one listening device in the drop ceiling above a couch. The other he placed in a table in front of the window.

“We were wrapping up getting everything installed and we got word from the surveillance teams that the mayor was on the move and might be heading back toward city hall,” Klaver said.

It was nearly midnight but Street was headed back to his office from a fundraiser. Klaver says the agents got out just in time.

“We were walking out of one entrance of city hall and he was walking in another,” Klaver said.

At the time Klaver said he was one of only a few people who knew the mayor’s office was bugged. Klaver said he planted dozens of listening devices throughout his career. He said only one was ever found.

Philadelphia police found the bug in the ceiling on October 7th2003.

“There was a possibility that we could have gone in and removed our equipment, but a decision was made higher than me, to not do that,” Klaver said.

Street, his staff and Democrats from across the country used the bug’s discovery as a political opportunity, blaming the Bush White House for trying to influence the election by bugging the mayor’s office.

“I knew the truth,” Klaver said. “I knew it was preposterous to say the White House ordered us to bug a sitting mayor’s office but I couldn’t come out and say it was preposterous.”

“I thought we were going to win,” Street’s opponent Sam Katz said. “I thought it was the nail in the coffin.”

Katz was up in polls before the bug’s discovery. He would lose the 2003 election.

“I went from being up six in our polls to down 14 having barely moved my lips,” Katz said.

“What’s probably more disappointing to me personally than the actual device being found is the effect it had on the mayoral election,” Klaver said. “I wish it had never been found. If I could go back in time and do it differently, I would.”

The FBI did secure 24 convictions in its “pay to play” investigation, but the bug in Streets’ office never picked up any information used in trial. Mayor street was never charged.

The convictions led to sweeping political reforms including campaign contribution limits and the city’s board of ethics.

Former Philadelphia mayor John street declined to be interviewed for this story.
 

The aunt of a 3-year-old South Jersey boy who was found dead in the woods near the Cooper River last month was subpoenaed by a grand jury to testify in the investigation, according to an NBC10 source.

Sarah Jessica Creato, 20, appeared before the grand jury Monday, the source told NBC10’s Cydney Long.

Sarah Jessica Creato’s nephew, Brendan Creato, was found dead the morning of Oct. 13 near the bank of the Cooper River in Haddon Township about a half-mile from his father, DJ Creato’s home.

The body was discovered about three hours after DJ Creato called 911 to report his son was missing.

Richard Fuschino Jr, DJ Creato’s lawyer, told NBC10 earlier this month that toxicology tests on Brendan Creato’s body came back negative. Officials also said there was no indication the boy was sexually assaulted and no indication of forced entry at DJ Creato’s home. They continue to investigate the cause of death.

Wednesday night, Philadelphia defense attorney Bill Brennan confirmed with NBC10 he is representing Brendan’s aunt and DJ’s sister Sarah Jessica Creato along with her parents. Brennan neither confirmed nor denied that his client was subpoenaed by a grand jury.

“Grand jury proceedings are secret and it’s my practice if there was a grand jury investigation not to comment,” he said.

Brennan also spoke on a video Sara Jessica Creato created a year ago for a college assignment which featured Brendan playing the role of a child who vanished and was later found dead.

“It’s certainly an uncanny coincidence,” Brennan said. “It’s a red herring. I would just encourage people not to focus too much on it. It’s a waste of time.”

Brennan also told NBC10 no inferences should be made about family members who hired defense attorneys.

No arrests have been made in connection to the boy’s death.
 

After a texting scandal involving children as young as 11 years old, a suburban Philadelphia district attorney addressed sexting and how it can lead to cyber-bullying.

Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan addressed the issues that came to the forefront after the texting scandal in the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District where students -- ages 11 to 15 -- exchanged naked photos of classmates.

The investigation began in April of 2015 when Tredyffrin Township Police received reports that nude photos of students at Valley Forge Middle School and Tredyffrin-Easttown Middle School were created, sent, stored and viewed by several teens and pre-teens both at their homes and at school. While the images and videos were sent by students to other minors in most cases, in some cases the images were sent to unidentified people who met in cyber chats on various social networking apps, police said.

In one case a student offered to sell an intimate image of a classmate to another student, said investigators. A teen boy also took an image of a sex act off the Internet, sent it to his classmates and claimed the image was of a female student, said police. The boy’s action led to an assault at the Tredyffrin-Easttown Middle School, according to police.

“Bullying continues,” said Tredyffrin Township Police Detective Sergeant Todd Bereda. “In this day and age it’s cyber-bullying. And this is a perfect example of what can happen when people aren’t paying attention.”

Three students between the ages of 11 and 15 were arrested and charged with distribution of child pornography as a result of the investigation.

“In making these arrests there’s a statement made that parents beware of what you’re children or doing and how they’re doing it because the next victim could be your own,” Detective Sgt. Bereda said.

Visit the Netsmartz Workshop and Crime Watch websites for tips on keeping your children safe from cyber-bullying.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) has re-issued a warning to drivers to beware of deer on the roads.

DNREC’s Division of Fish and Wildlife is reminding motorists to watch for the animals after reports of increased white-tail deer activity. The group says drivers should be most cautious from dusk to dawn.

“Colliding with a large animal can cause injury to you or your passengers, or trigger an accident involving you and other motorists, as well as seriously damaging or totaling your vehicle,” Sergeant John McDerby, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police, said in a release. “With shorter fall days and increased deer movement, drivers need to avoid distractions and be especially alert for deer crossing roadways.”

DNREC has given some tips on how to avoid deer collisions:

• Turn your headlights on at dawn and dusk and keep your eyes on the road, scanning the sides of the road as well as what’s ahead of you. When there is no oncoming traffic, switch to high beams to better reflect the eyes of deer on or near the roadway.

• To reduce your risk of injury in a collision, always wear your seatbelt.

• Be especially aware of any distractions that might take your eyes off the road, even if only momentarily, such as cell phones, adjusting the radio, eating or passenger activities.

• Watch for “Deer Crossing” signs that mark commonly-traveled areas, and be aware that deer typically cross between areas of cover, such as woods or where roads divide agricultural fields from woods.

• If you see a deer crossing the road ahead, slow down immediately and proceed with caution until you are past the crossing point. Deer usually travel in groups, so if you see one deer, there are likely to be others.

• Slow down and blow your horn with one long blast to frighten deer away. Do not rely on devices such as deer whistles, deer fences and reflectors to deter deer, as these devices have not been proven to reduce deer-vehicle collisions.

• Do not swerve to miss a deer – brake and stay in your lane. Losing control of your vehicle, crossing into another lane, hitting an oncoming vehicle or leaving the roadway and hitting another obstacle such as a tree or a pole is likely to be much more serious than hitting a deer.

• If you hit a deer, stop at the scene, get your car off the road if possible and call police. Do not touch the animal or get too close.

For more information on white-tailed deer in Delaware, contact the Wildlife Section at 302-739-9912.
 

Police in Mercer County, Pennsylvania say a woman fought off a suspected rapist with a frying pan.

According to WKBN, investigators said the woman invited Anthony Prestopine, 33, to her home in Sharon.

She told police she fell asleep, and when she woke up Prestopine forced himself on her.

When Prestopine wouldn't leave, the woman said she hit him in the face with a frying pan, according to police.

Prestopine was charged with rape.

Philadelphia Mayor-elect Jim Kenney is filling some key positions in his administration with some longtime civil servants.

Deputy Mayor and Parks and Recreation Commissioner Mike DiBerardinis will serve as the city's Managing Director come January. DiBerardinis worked as Pennsylvania's Secretary of Conservation and Natural Resources under Gov. Ed Rendell and held top posts at the Campaign for Working Families and the William Penn Foundation.

Jane Slusser, Kenney's campaign manager, will stay on as Chief of Staff in his administration. Besides helping lead the mayor-elect to a victory after a late start, she previously worked for Equality Pennsylvania, the Human Rights Campaign and both of Barack Obama's presidential campaigns.

South Philadelphia High School (Southern) principal Otis Hackney will lead education efforts for Kenney as the city's Chief Education Officer. Hackney started his career as a math teacher at Germantown High School. He held administration posts at Overbrook High and Springfield Township High. He's led Southern since 2010.

Kenney's former council chief of staff, Debbie Mahler, will act as his go-between with City Council as the Deputy Mayor of Intergovernmental Affairs. A former school teacher, Mahler worked in council for nearly 20 years and most recently was a senior advisor on the Kenney mayoral campaign.

They join First Deputy Commissioner Richard Ross, Jr. who was tapped on Wednesday to lead the police department in the new year.

Kenney will make the formal appointments during a news conferece Friday afternoon.

Students at Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls in Philadelphia are asking administrators to let a nun keep teaching after she was arrested for driving under the influence.

Sister Kimberly Miller, IHM, failed a field sobriety test in Washington Township, New Jersey around 3 a.m. last Saturday, police said.

Miller's blood alcohol concentration was twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent, according to police.

Before being stopped, police said Miller backed her silver Chevy Impala into the front doors of a Meineke Car Care Center along Route 42 in Turnersville.

Police pulled her over a short time later and she submitted to a field test. Miller was later charged with DUI.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia's Office of Catholic Education placed Miller on administrative leave Wednesday pending the outcome of an investigation.

Students launched an online petition the same day asking officials to let the well-liked sister keep her teaching job.

"She has helped her students blossom into the women they are today with her selfless devotion and dedication to her faith and job as a teacher," the petition reads. "In light of recent events, all of the positive things she has done should not be overshadowed by one negative wrongdoing."

More than 1,500 people signed the petition as of Friday morning — 590 more than hoped for.

Asked about the petition, archdiocesan spokesman Ken Gavin said officials were aware of it and reminded that no decision has been made about Miller's future. He said the diocese won't comment further since it's a personnel matter.

Teens get worked up about a lot of things. But for Megan Grassell, the frustration she experienced during a bra-shopping trip to the mall with her younger sister sparked an idea she then grew into a company that makes age-appropriate bras for teens. In three short years Megan caught the attention of Forbes Magazine for her success, Time called her one of the country's most influential teens in 2014 and this year she's among the youngest speakers featured at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women.

Why bras?

Grassell: So I started the company after a trip to the mall with my younger sister. I was 17 and she was 13 years old. We were shopping for bras and I was appalled at everything in the stores because it was oversexualized. There wasn't just a normal, comfortable bra for this age group. After doing quite a bit of market research, I found there wasn't really anything out there and so I launched a website when I was 18 with just two products and a Kickstarter campaign to raise money. I mean all I had was the money I'd saved from busing tables during high school, but we raised $25,000 overnight and then doubled that. It was amazing to hear how many people had experienced the same thing I did, so we had from the beginning, a lot of people really supporting the brand.

And why the name YellowBerry?

YellowBerry? If you think about a fruit before it's ripened, it's sort of synonymous with this stage in a girl's life.

How are you growing the company?

I started with 2 styles and 2 colors each. I was testing the market to see if people identified with my products and if they resonated in the market. Then I decided to add more products and be more like a teen apparel line. So that's definitely a focus for us as a company.

At 18, you were written up in Fortune Magazine. That's pretty impressive. When did you start to see yourself as an entrepreneur?

I think that's an interesting question for me. I guess that's what I am, but I never really thought of myself like that. I definitely think of myself more as a founder. And right now I feel like I founded something that's definitely headed in the direction I want to be going.

When you were young, did you love or hate the question, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' and how did you answer it?

I don't think I every really had an answer. I mean my schooling even up until now is through high school. I always wanted to go to college and get my undergrad as a history major and maybe go to grad school. But when I started YellowBerry I was really motivated and this is what I love right now.

Part of your success must be about that emotional connection you've made, so there are probably a lot of girls out there who feel like you really get what it's like growing up. What do you think is the toughest part of moving through those teen years for girls?

As a boy or a girl, I think it’s really hard. Whether you're on your computer of phone you’re saturated with information all the time. And when you’re growing up as a man or a woman or whatever, you’re trying to figure out who you are and it’s just a difficult balance to understand that everything out there is not real. It's hard.

Megan, how do you measure success?

I think for me, I don’t know. I don’t’ think it's something that’s right or wrong, there’s a lot of different ways people can see it and I just really want YellowBerry and our team (of 6) to grow. We are very collaborative and working really hard and having just a lot of fun every day.

A lot of people in your generation are really drawn to brands with a social component. Is that something you think about with YellowBerry?

I think part of my challenge right now is really just understanding that I’m not on a typical path for someone my age. I’m working with people who are older than me right now and I spend the majority of my time working on YellowBerry. That's where my head is now.

What are you usually thinking about at the end of the day, when your head hits the pillow?

Mostly it’s YellowBerry I guess. I wake up and get to the officer really early. You know we’re a startup and we’re doing a lot of different things. We’re constantly thinking about how we can make our product better and celebrate the girls and their stories. It’s definitely an open sort of approach every day, not a handbook. We are figuring it out as we go. Definitely fun.

Tell us what you're planning to talk about at this year's Pennsylvania Conference for Women. What's your message?

I’m a little bit nervous but what I kind of go back to — my go-to advice — is that no one really took me seriously. So I like to tell people if the worst answer is NO, then you should always ask the question!

A student from the Cheltenham School district has been diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, according to school officials.

A statement released by school officials included a message from the Interim Medical Director for the Montgomery County Health Department reading, "We can confirm there is a case of bacterial meningitis associated with a student who belongs to Cheltenham School District, but this is an isolated incident and there is no threat to the school community. Due to the HIPAA Privacy Rule, we will not be releasing any additional details as to protect the personal health information of this student."

Officials did not disclose what school or how old the student was who has been diagnosed with the illness.

At least one parent called NBC10 to complain that parents of students in the district had not been notified of the issue.

For Bev Sparling, whose father is a World War II veteran, Veterans Day this year held a significance beyond being a special day to honor her dad's service.

Her father, Eugene Vickers, a retired Navy lieutenant, turned 100 this Veterans Day.

"I almost feel like they made it Veterans Day because it was his birthday. That was kind of the joke way back when," Sparling, Vickers' youngest of four daughters, said.

Vickers served in the Pacific Theater during World War II aboard the USS Ganymede and the USS Panamint. 

"He enlisted as soon as the need came through with World War II. He took the steps to begin to enlist, went into officer's training, and left a wife and a baby," said Sparling.

Vickers spent 22 months outside of the United States and away from his family. He remembers a 36-day period where his fleet was under Kamikaze attack, day and night. He described a particularly memorable instance during the attack.

“A plane was coming in, it pulled out of its dive and went right across our ship, and we shot it down on the other side,” Vickers recalled. “Kamikaze never pull out of a dive.”

Sparling told NBC10 that her father believes a higher power played a hand that day. “He always told us that was the hand of God, because he wanted all of us to be born. If his ship had gotten hit, it would’ve just been my oldest sister."

Vickers' wife, a 20-something mother at the time, made every effort to see her husband when she had the chance, traveling all the way from Philadelphia to California so he could see their infant daughter.

"She got bumped from the plane in Chicago and had no money," Sparling recounted, telling one of many of her mother's stories about traveling to visit her father. "Somebody put her up in a hotel and they got her back to another plane, and she made it to California. I think she got to see him for a few weeks."

When asked to describe how it felt to spend so much time away from his family, Vickers replied with just one word: "Lonesome." A devout Christian and patriot, Vickers added, "It was just something you had to do."

Vickers' extreme patriotism comes from his strong religious beliefs. "One of the most memorable things he said to me is that any time there was anything that was difficult in his work life, he would say, 'I am not working for men, I'm working for the Lord,'" said Sparling. "He had an eternal perspective on things."

A selfless, spiritual man to his family and his fellow military men, Vickers spent his time in the service looking out for others and for opportunities to spread his faith. When men on his fleet expressed the desire to hold Sunday Mass, Vickers stepped up as chaplain, despite having no proper training.

"He is the epitome of faithfulness and loyalty and trustworthiness. He was just always somebody you knew you could count on," his daughter said. "He's the one that taught me how to throw a softball, how to swing a bat, how to drive."

Vickers later helped to establish the Delaware County Christian School, a pre-K through 12 preparatory school that all of his daughters attended. 

Today, Vickers lives in Delaware County, not too far from his daughter, Barbara, who visits almost every day and cooks him dinner. He has four daughters, 11 grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren.

NBC10 spoke with Vickers on his birthday, not long after he was honored as grand marshal at the annual Veterans Day Parade in Media.

"I didn't march, I was in a big limousine. My daughters had to walk," he laughed.

Vickers celebrated his 100th birthday surrounded by family and friends. They had dinner and sang some of his favorite hymns. Even at 100 years old, Vickers is still the life of the party, his daughter said. "He has a great sense of humor. I mean, he's still doing puns," said Sparling.

"It was so nice to have everybody together," said Vickers of his birthday celebration. His large, extended family gathers every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and Vickers still leads prayers at dinner. Though his vision isn't what it used to be, his memory is crystal clear. 

"He can sing the second and third verse of a lot of hymns," said Sparling, who enjoys playing her dad's favorite hymns on the piano to maintain his memory of his favorites. 

When asked what advice he would give to any young people entering the service today, Vickers recited a bible verse. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy path.”

A gunman is in custody and another shooter on the run after a man was shot and killed in Southwest Philadelphia overnight Friday, police said.

The victim was shot five times in face and twice in the legs at point blank range in the backyard of a home along the 7800 block of Midas Place, according to police.

Capt. Nicholas Brown said when officers arrived and began searching the area they spotted a suspicious man nearby carrying a gun. Witnesses identified him as a shooter and he was taken into custody.

Police are using K-9 officers to search for a second gunman. He's described as a heavyset man.

The victim is believed to be in his early 20s, but has yet to be publicly identified.

A gun was found near his body, Brown said. Witnesses told police they watched the shooters trying to pick the victim up before fleeing.