One of three men who pleaded guilty to the abduction and torture of a worker along Philadelphia's Jeweler's Row learned his fate Monday.
Khayree Gay was sentenced to 14 years in prison Monday afternoon in federal court in Philadelphia.
Gay's sentencing day came after ringleader Salahudin Shaheed, 35, received more than 30 years in prison and co-conspirator Basil Buie, 23, got 15 years for their roles in the National Watch and Diamond Exchange attempted heist.
Shaheed recruited Gay and Basil Buie to rob the National Watch and Diamond Exchange at 101 S 8th Street in Philadelphia last April, according to a federal indictment. The three men allegedly conducted surveillance of the store and its employees from a parking lot on the 700 block of Chestnut Street.
On April 3, Shaheed identified a 54-year-old jewelry store clerk as their target but postponed the robbery when he spotted the woman entering a parking garage at 8th and Chestnut streets with other people, according to officials. The next day, the men returned to the parking garage, grabbed the woman, threw her into a van, placed a hood over her head and zip-tied her hands, investigators said.
The trio took $800 in cash and her ring and demanded the woman's debit card pin number and codes to the alarm and safe at National Watch & Diamond Exchange, according to investigators.
But the victim didn't know the alarm and safe information, and when she couldn't supply the information, the suspects turned even more violent, agents said.
For the next few hours, they drove the victim around as she was beaten and repeatedly stunned with a Taser, officials said. They told her, agents said, "This is the day you're going to die."
She was eventually thrown from the van at Mount Lawn Cemetery in Darby, Pennsylvania. A concussion and broken ribs were the physical scars she suffered, as well as mental distress.
Mark Mills, a Cheltenham Township Public Works Department employee, was awarded with an official commendation from the Cheltenham Board of Commissioners after he saved a man's life during the Blizzard of 2016.
Mills was plowing streets in Glenside during the Blizzard in January when he found resident Valjean Sylva trapped in the snow in front of his house. Sylva had been crying out for help but no one heard him until Mills arrived to save the day.
Mills carried Sylva into his home, where he covered him with blankets. He did not report back to his duties until he was certain Sylva was safe. Sylva credits Mills with saving his life.
Public Works Superintendent Chris Clewell along with Sylva and his wife Lorene, joined Commissioners Ann L. Rappoport, Daniel B. Norris, Baron B. Holland, Irv Brockington, Brad M. Pransky and Morton J. Simon, Jr., to present the award to Mills at a recent board meeting at Curtis Hall in Wyncote.
An LSD arrest at Villanova University first had the NBC10 Investigators asking questions about how the university handles on-campus drug busts. In mid-February 2016, police arrested a Villanova freshman for selling drugs. But as NBC10 Investigators dug deeper, we found local police reports with little information supplied by Villanova, when it comes to drugs on campus.
Radnor Township Manager Bob Zienkowski told the NBC10 Investigators he believes there is an illegal drug problem at Villanova.
“I think there’s been ongoing problems for years there,” Zienkowski said.
Radnor Police Lieutenant Andy Block said his department needs more information from the school, so it can investigate.
“There's a fair amount of drugs that are being located on the campus. Where? That's the question," Block said.
Police reports obtained by the NBC10 Investigators show multiple occasions where Radnor officers picked up drugs and paraphernalia from Villanova. In the space meant for a narrative or explanation for the contraband, little or sometimes no information is written. Township officials consider this underreporting.
“There’s no names attached to them, so you have to be underreporting. I don’t see any other way around it. You have to be under reporting,” according to Zienkowski.
The Radnor Police Dept. says it needs more information so its officers can investigate and determine if police action is needed.
"The concerning part for law enforcement is that, yes, it might seem minor at the time, when you're dealing with a small amount of marijuana, but it could be considered broken windows theory if it leads to more illicit and more dangerous drugs being brought onto the campus," Block said.
Students we spoke with expressed concerns with underreporting.
“Just that level of honesty the administration has with us,” freshman Michael Dacanay said.
The NBC10 Investigators kept digging and found Villanova drug incidents reported to the government as part of a mandated program. In 2013 and 2014, Villanova reported 16 drug arrests. Over those same two years, there were 92 drug law referrals, or incidents resolved through disciplinary actions at the university, that may not involve police.
Villanova's Director of Public Safety agreed to speak with NBC10 Investigative Reporter Harry Hairston about how it deals with illegal drugs on campus, and its relationship with Radnor Police. Less than an hour before that interview was scheduled to take place, the university backed out.
Villanova University told the NBC10 Investigators in a statement:
Villanova University is committed to a community free of substance abuse. We have a strong, unwavering drug policy, and students found in violation of that policy are held accountable. There are a range of sanctions for violations of the University’s drug policy, up to and including suspension or expulsion. The process Villanova follows is a standard practice in higher education. As is required for all universities and colleges, these incidents are reported—under both federal and state reporting guidelines—and made publically available on the University’s website. These statistics are also proactively distributed to the campus community.
We work closely with Radnor Police through a long-standing and mutually-agreed process to handle incidents involving drugs. In fact, the University conducted the recent LSD investigation with their full knowledge, consent and cooperation. Given the collaborative and productive relationship we’ve established, the comments from Radnor Police are a surprise and frankly disappointing.
A dog fighting ring victim was rescued this weekend after being abandoned on the street.
A woman died from her injuries after she set two fires inside her Boothwyn, Delaware County home, according to police.
Officials say Brenda McCabe was alone inside her home on Blueball and Malatesta avenues shortly before 5 p.m. back on Feb. 21 when she set a fire in her kitchen and a second fire in her living room. Investigators believe McCabe's clothing then caught on fire and she tried to get to her bathroom in order to extinguish the flames. At that point however the fire had spread through her home.
Neighbors told NBC10 McCabe's husband was outside the home at the time and was frantically screaming her name as he tried to get inside and save her. He was burned however and was later taken to the Crozer-Chester Medical Center for treatment.
Between 75 to 100 firefighters arrived at the scene to fight the flames.
"[There was] intensive heat on the first floor and you could feel the heat all the way across the street," said Upper Chichester Township Fire Chief Michael Byrne.
Firefighters eventually brought the flames under control. When they went inside the home they found McCabe's body on the second floor at the top of the stairs. Officials say she died from smoke inhalation and thermal burns.
"It's very painful," said Ruth Moton, McCabe's neighbor. "Especially when just a half hour prior to that I saw her with her beautiful blonde hair out playing with her grandchild. Then to see her on a stretcher."
Neighbors told NBC10 McCabe had lived in the home for about 20 years.
"It's just really hard," said Patricia Davis, a family friend. "I've been knowing her for over 20 years. My son and her son are best friends and kind of inseparable."
This is the second tragedy McCabe's family has dealt with in the past few years. Friends of McCabe told NBC10 her daughter died two years ago.
If you see a large fire or smell smoke in Burlington County, New Jersey Monday night, don’t be alarmed. Officials say it’s all part of a controlled burn in the area of the Penn State Forest. SkyForce10 captured the massive fire Monday night.
A controlled burn is a technique used to reduce fuel buildup and decrease the likelihood of serious fires. It’s typically done during cooler months. You can learn more about controlled burns HERE.
A South Jersey man who was fired by Donald Trump on his hit NBC show “The Apprentice” is now working for the presidential candidate more than a decade later.
“I look at the Apprentice experience as a fraternity,” said Brian McDowell, a North Wildwood real estate broker.
McDowell was a contestant on season 3 of the Apprentice in 2005 but was fired by Trump in week 2 of the show. Eleven years later, McDowell is now volunteering for Trump in his bid for the White House.
“A lot of my friends say you know, ‘how could you actually support Donald Trump after being fired on the Apprentice?’” McDowell said. “I’m all about being involved in a campaign where I feel it matters. And I think that this campaign with Donald Trump matters. I look at Donald Trump and I compare him to Dwight Eisenhower. I compare him to Roosevelt. I compare him to people who built this country.”
McDowell recently spent time in Iowa in the days leading up to the state’s Republican caucus, helping to staff a phone bank. He also reunited with fellow Apprentice contestant Tana Goertz who was working in Iowa as an official campaign chairperson.
“Literally within the first ten minutes of being there with Tana it was like being back on the Apprentice,” he said. “It was like being thrown right back into a task.”
McDowell went to Nevada for the Republican caucus as well. When no planes were seemingly available to fly Trump’s son to a campaign event, McDowell says his Apprentice connections with a different contestant from the same season helped him track down a jet.
“When I see adversity or I see a problem I go right into the mode of fixing that problem which is ultimately I think what all the Apprentices that were casted do,” McDowell said.
McDowell told NBC10 he’s paid for all of his own travel expenses so far which has totaled around $2,000.
“Donald is frugal and so is Brian McDowell,” he said.
McDowell is considering taking a campaign trip to Florida next but first wants to see how Trump does on Super Tuesday.
“I would be surprised if it’s not a sweep,” he said.
McDowell says he will continue to support Trump, even if he doesn’t always agree with what he says.
“I don’t like everything Donald Trump says and I don’t like everything Donald Trump does,” McDowell said. “I didn’t like the fact that I was fired on the Apprentice. But I’m a realist.”
A 7-year-old girl walking to school was killed and her mother was seriously injured Monday morning after they were run down by a hit-and-run driver in New Jersey, authorities said.
The girl, Sheyla Pichardo, was hit while walking at Van Buren Place and 61st Street in West New York at about 8:30 a.m., police said.
The SUV that hit the girl, a black Chevrolet Tahoe, took off afterward.
Surveillance footage from the scene shows the SUV hit the mother and daughter while they crossed a street. The driver gets out of the vehicle, looks at the girl and mother, then gets back in the vehicle and speeds off.
The girl was taken to Palisades Medical Center after the impact, authorities said. She was pronounced dead sometime afterward.
"My heart is destroyed with what happened to my daughter," said Javier Picharro, the girl's father. "I didn't think this could happen to me or my wife."
Dozens of police officers were at the scene after the hit-and-run, and a small memorial shrine had already been set up for the child.
Picharro said he hoped authorities caught the driver, who he alleged had gotten out of the car before driving away.
""This is not what a a man," he said. "That is what a coward does.
The hit-and-run came after three people died in similar incidents in New York City Saturday night and Sunday.
No arrests have been made.
A shooting suspect fled the scene of a bloody Philadelphia row home apartment fight with a 1-year-old child in tow.
Gunfire rang out inside the home on N Percy Street near Erie Avenue in the Hunting Park neighborhood shortly before midnight, said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small.
“Upon police arrival they found the private residence with the front door wide open,” said Small. “…They entered the property and they immediately saw that there was a blood trail on the steps, there was blood on the wall.”
Inside the home, officers found “obvious signs of a violent struggle,” said Small. They also found at least three knives, a broken beer bottle, broken glasses, a broken bedroom door and items spilled on the floor.
Well police investigated the bloody scene they learned that family members took two men to the emergency room at Temple University Hospital.
A 23-year-old man had gunshot wounds to his mouth and chest while a 22-year-old man had three gunshot wounds to his hip and arm. Doctors listed both in critical condition.
Investigators found that the shooting victims reside in a second-floor bedroom, said Small.
“The shooter also resides in a separate bedroom on the second floor,” said Small.
Investigators didn’t immediately know what led to the violent confrontation whee the shooter used a shotgun.
The shooter darted from the scene with four other family members including a 1-year-old boy in a blue four-door vehicle, said Small.
“Hopefully there’s no injuries to the 1-year-old child,” said Small.
Officers planned to look at surveillance video in hopes of tracking down the shooter and ensuring the safety of his family. Police asked anyone with information to contact Philly Police.
