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The Philly Thread - 3dR3 - 09-27-2010
Securb Wrote:(Sept. 23) -- Days after Spanish researchers announced the discovery of a humpbacked dinosaur, police in Pennsylvania are searching for a man spotted humping a dinosaur.
Law enforcement officials say a man exposed himself to two teenage girls in a park in Chester County on Sept. 19, then began "simulating a sex act with a large plastic dinosaur in the park," according to a police report quoted by Philly.com.
He was just excited about Vick starting... this isn't that unheard of.
The Philly Thread - Securb - 12-22-2010
What kind of a person allegedly urinates in a convenience store freezer, ruining $508 worth of cookies, bagels, and other baked goods?
Meet Carrie Harkness.
The 23-year-old Pennsylvania woman was charged today with criminal mischief and disorderly conduct in connection with the incident early Saturday at the Country Fair store near her home in Meadville, according to a court docket. A preliminary court hearing has been scheduled for January 12.
Harkness, pictured at right, reportedly became upset when workers asked her to leave the business. A store worker today described the befouled freezer as the walk-in variety.
In a Facebook posting last night, Harkness, a mother of two, wrote, ââ¬ÅOmg have you ever liked someone so much and go out with them and make a fool of yourself????? wish I could take back friday night!!!!! But youngstown is on point wish my friend could forgive me!!!!!!ââ¬Â
![[Image: carrieharknessfacebook.jpg]](http://i.cdn.turner.com/dr/teg/tsg/release/sites/default/files/assets/carrieharknessfacebook.jpg)
The Philly Thread - Speng - 12-22-2010
I'd like to see the security camera footage of that.
The Philly Thread - Hooch - 12-22-2010
Meadville? What the fuck dude? I think Boston is closer to Philly than Meadville. Isn't Meadville part of Canada?
Besides, if it was in Philly she would have either taken a shit in the cooler or just shot up the store.
The Philly Thread - Gator - 12-23-2010
Wow, you really hit that on the head. I actually looked it up and they are almost the same distance. Boston is about 20 miles further from Philly than Meadville. I know, what can I say - slow day in the office.
Besides, you want to talk about something in Philly, why don't you talk about our serial killer that's on the loose and that Philly Police are asking the public not to use "Vigilante Justice" if they find him:
Third victim linked to 'Kensington Strangler'
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/video?id=7857658
PHILADELPHIA - December 21, 2010 (WPVI) -- DNA has now linked three deaths to the so-called 'Kensington Strangler,' police announced Tuesday evening.
The 'Kensington Strangler' case
By definition, with the confirmation of a third victim, police are dealing with a serial killer.
Authorities say DNA evidence proves that 27-year-old Casey Mahoney is the latest victim of the 'Strangler.'
Mahoney, of East Stroudsburg, was found dead in a wooded area near a set of train tracks on the 100 block of East Tusculum last Wednesday night. The area, police say, is known to be used by drug users.
According to police, Mahoney was strangled. She was also nude from the waist down and appeared to have been sexually assaulted, as were the other two victims.
Mahoney's body was found blocks from where the two earlier victims, Elaine Goldberg, 21, and Nicole Piacentini, 35, were discovered last month. DNA evidence hadn earlier determined that those two killings were linked.
At least three other women have reported being attacked by a man who choked, sexually assaulted or hit them, police said.
Mayor Michael Nutter announced Tuesday morning that the reward for the arrest and conviction of the Kensington Strangler now totals $37,000.
The morning news conference took place at the scene where one of the victims, Nicole Piacentini, was found dead.
$25,000 of the reward is being provided by the city of Philadelphia and the remaining $5,000 is being supplied by the Citizens Crime Commission. Both of which will be paid out with the arrest and conviction of the individual responsible.
An additional reward of $5,000 for the DNA match and arrest of the Strangler is being provided by the Fraternal Order of Police plus another $2,000 provided by City Councilman Frank DiCicco.
To provide information on a suspect you are urged to call 911, or use the following phone numbers:
Homicide Unit: 215-686-3335 or 215-686-3336
Special Victims:215-685-3251
Anyone with information can also submit a tip on the Philadelphia Police website.
The suspect is described as a black man in his early 20s standing about 5'7" to 5'10" tall and 170 pounds, who walks with a distinctive gait, favoring his left foot. He has also been described as having long sideburns and listens to an iPod.
During the morning news conference, Mayor Nutter said that while officials want everyone to keep their eyes open, vigilantism will not be tolerated.
"We are serious about getting this psycho off the streets of Philadelphia. We will not put up with, or tolerate, this type of insanity on our streets," Nutter said. "If you have information call 911 immediately. Do not try to take any action on your own. That's what law enforcement is about."
That warning came after a Philadelphia man, fearing vigilantes, had to call police for help after someone falsely posted his picture on fliers naming him as the suspect in the string of strangling deaths.
Philadelphia police say someone distributed fliers bearing the man's name, address and photo in the city's Kensington neighborhood, identifying him as the suspected Kensington Strangler.
The flier found its way to Facebook, where it was posted on a group called "Catch the Kensington Strangler before he catches someone you love."
Police say whoever distributed the fliers could face charges if caught.
The Philly Thread - Hooch - 12-23-2010
How do we get the killer a T-shirt? I'm smelling a good promotional opportunity.
The Philly Thread - Securb - 12-23-2010
We have the Smiley Face Serial Killer in Boston... who will get caught first ....I smell a contest!
The Philly Thread - Hooch - 12-23-2010
Securb Wrote:We have the Smiley Face Serial Killer in Boston... who will get caught first ....I smell a contest!
Is that the one that paints a smiley face on a wall in the vicinity of the kill? If so, he's been around here too.
The Philly Thread - Gator - 12-24-2010
Hey, I've seen him on The Mentalist.
The Philly Thread - Hooch - 01-20-2011
West Philadelphia abortion doctor killed 7 babies with scissors
WEST PHILADELPHIA - January 19, 2011 (WPVI) -- A doctor whose abortion clinic was described as a filthy, foul-smelling "house of horrors" that was overlooked by regulators for years was charged Wednesday with murder, accused of delivering seven babies alive and then using scissors to kill them.
Dr. Kermit Gosnell was also charged with murder in the death of a woman who suffered an overdose of painkillers while awaiting an abortion.
In a nearly 300-page grand jury report filled with ghastly, stomach-turning detail, prosecutors said Pennsylvania regulators ignored complaints of barbaric conditions at Gosnell's clinic, which catered to poor, immigrant and minority women in the city's impoverished West Philadelphia section.
Prosecutors called the case a "complete regulatory collapse." "Pennsylvania is not a Third World country," the district attorney's office declared in the report. "There were several oversight agencies that stumbled upon and should have shut down Kermit Gosnell long ago."
Gosnell, 69, was arrested and charged with eight counts of murder in all. Nine of Gosnell's employees - including his wife, a cosmetologist who authorities say performed abortions - also were charged.
Prosecutors said Gosnell made millions of dollars over three decades performing thousands of dangerous abortions, many of them illegal late-term procedures. His clinic had no trained nurses or medical staff other than Gosnell, a family physician not certified in obstetrics or gynecology, prosecutors said.
At least two women died from the procedures, while scores more suffered perforated bowels, cervixes and uteruses, authorities said.
Under Pennsylvania law, abortions are illegal after 24 weeks of pregnancy, or just under six months, and most doctors won't perform them after 20 weeks because of the risks, prosecutors said.
In a typical late-term abortion, the fetus is dismembered in the uterus and then removed in pieces. That is more common than the procedure opponents call "partial-birth abortion," in which the fetus is partially extracted before being destroyed. Prosecutors said Gosnell instead delivered many of the babies alive.
He "induced labor, forced the live birth of viable babies in the sixth, seventh, eighth month of pregnancy and then killed those babies by cutting into the back of the neck with scissors and severing their spinal cord," District Attorney Seth Williams said. Gosnell referred to it as "snipping," prosecutors said.
Prosecutors estimated Gosnell ended hundreds of pregnancies by cutting the spinal cords, but they said they couldn't prosecute more cases because he destroyed files.
"These killings became so routine that no one could put an exact number on them," the grand jury report said. "They were considered 'standard procedure."'
Defense attorney William J. Brennan, who represented Gosnell during the investigation, said: "Obviously, these allegations are very, very serious."
The grand jury report came out a day after new Republican Gov. Tom Corbett took office. Spokesman Kevin Harley pledged that Corbett's administration, through his new health secretary, would do more to oversee such clinics.
"What needs to be done is regulators, whether on the local or state or federal level, need to properly regulate, inspect and do their jobs," Harley said. "The safety of our citizens should be first and foremost."
Authorities raided Gosnell's clinic early last year in search of drug violations and stumbled upon "a house of horrors," Williams said. Bags and bottles holding aborted fetuses "were scattered throughout the building," the district attorney said. "There were jars, lining shelves, with severed feet that he kept for no medical purpose."
Prosecutors said the place reeked of cat urine because of the animals that were allowed to roam freely, furniture and blankets were stained with blood, instruments were not properly sterilized, and disposable medical supplies were used over and over.
Gosnell didn't advertise, but word got around. Women came from across the city, state and region for illegal late-term abortions, authorities said. They paid $325 for first-trimester abortions and $1,600 to $3,000 for abortions up to 30 weeks. The clinic took in $10,000 to $15,000 a day, authorities said.
"People knew near and far that if you needed a late-term abortion you could go see Dr. Gosnell," Williams said. White women from the suburbs were ushered into a separate, slightly cleaner area because Gosnell believed they were more likely to file complaints, Williams said.
Few if any of the sedated patients knew their babies had been delivered alive and then killed, prosecutors said. Many were first-time mothers who were told they were 24 weeks pregnant, even if they were much further along, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Gosnell falsified the ultrasound examinations that determine how far along a pregnancy is, teaching his staff to hold the probe in such a way that the fetus would look smaller. Gosnell sometimes joked about the babies, saying one was so large he could "walk me to the bus stop," according to the report.
State regulators ignored complaints about Gosnell and the 46 lawsuits filed against him, and made just five annual inspections, most satisfactory, since the clinic opened in 1979, authorities said. The inspections stopped completely in 1993 because of what prosecutors said was the pro-abortion rights attitude that set in after Democratic Gov. Robert Casey, an abortion foe, left office.
Williams accused state Health Department officials of "utter disregard" for the safety of women undergoing abortion, and said the testimony of agency officials "enraged" the grand jury. But he said he could find no criminal offenses with which they could be charged, in part because too much time has elapsed.
"These officials were far more protective of themselves when they testified before the grand jury. Even (Health Department) lawyers, including the chief counsel, brought private attorneys with them - presumably at government expense," the report said.
The state's reluctance to investigate, under several administrations, may stem partly from the sensitivity of the abortion debate, Williams said. Nonetheless, he called Gosnell's conduct a clear case of murder.
"A doctor who with scissors cuts into the necks, severing the spinal cords of living, breathing babies who would survive with proper medical attention commits murder under the law," he said. "Regardless of one's feelings about abortion, whatever one's beliefs, that is the law."
Four clinic employees were also charged with murder, and five more, including Gosnell's wife, Pearl, with conspiracy, drug and other crimes. All were in custody. Gosnell's wife performed extremely late-term abortions on Sundays, the report said.
One of the murder charges against Gosnell involves a woman seeking an abortion, Karnamaya Mongar, who authorities said died in 2009 because she was given too much of the painkiller Demerol and other drugs.
Gosnell wasn't at the clinic at the time. His staff administered the drugs repeatedly as they waited for him to arrive at night, as was his custom, the grand jury found.
Mongar and her husband, Ash, had fled their native Bhutan and spent nearly 20 years in camps in Nepal. They had three children. A man who answered the phone Wednesday at a listing for Ash Mongar in Virginia did not speak English, while their daughter did not immediately return a message.
Bernard Smalley who represents the family of Mongar spoke to Action News Wednesday night.
"His actions and inactions were outrageous. They were reckless," Smalley said. "When he was in trouble, and he knew that she was not breathing, she was pulseless, there was no equipment on the premises to resuscitate her."
The malpractice suits filed against Gosnell include one over the death of a 22-year-old Philadelphia woman, a mother of two, who died of a bloodstream infection and a perforated uterus in 2000. Gosnell sometimes sewed up such injuries without telling the women about the complications, prosecutors said.
Gosnell earned his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and is board certified in family practice. He started, but did not finish, a residency in obstetrics-gynecology, authorities said.
Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore said: "He does not know how to do an abortion. Once he got them there, he saw dollar signs and did abortions that other people wouldn't do."