Burglary

As husband and wife for more than 50 years, Louis and Judith Hartdegen were said to be inseparable. But something went very wrong early Monday, a domestic argument that turned deadly, according to police. Louis Hartdegen killed his wife and tried to pin the crime on a neighbor, they said. Louis Hartdegen, 75, had scratches and bruises to his face, and his 74-year-old wife lay unresponsive in bed, when police arrived at their apartment in the 6700 block of Castor Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia.

In Earline Robinson's line of work, the law usually is just an occupational hazard. Robinson, 63, is a professional con man, claiming to have been arrested in 48 states, according to the district attorney's office. At worst, say prosecutors, his scams have netted short jail stays. But yesterday, Robinson ran into Common Pleas Judge Mark I. Bernstein, who hacked off the twilight of Robinson's flimflam career. The judge already had convicted Robinson of burglary - instead of a simple theft - for trying to bilk a Wynnefield woman of $1,500 in 1984.

A report of a road obstruction on Route 70 in Cherry Hill led to the arrest of eight youths who made their getaway from the scene of a burglary on bicycles, police said yesterday. The obstruction was a smashed cash register. According to police, the boys, ranging in age from 12 to 16, entered Christine's Hairstyling on Route 70 through an open side window shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday. They took $56 from the shop's cash register and then took the register out the front door and dumped it onto Route 70, obstructing traffic, police said.

A burglary suspect was nabbed Jan. 19 as he was leaving a gold and silver store in Bensalem, where police said he had attempted to sell jewelry taken in a Doylestown Township burglary earlier in the day. A police detective was in the Suburban Gold Store in the Woodhaven Mall about 5:15 p.m. when the suspect, Dominic Infante, 18, walked in, police said. The plainclothes detective had a warrant for Infante's arrest in his pocket at the time. The detective secretly made a call to the Bensalem police station.

Kendall Lee Hatfield, the Southwest Philadelphia man accused of killing Lower Merion police Officer Edward M. Setzer, was charged Friday a burglary in Berwyn on July 18. Hatfield, 23, of the 2500 block of Bonaffon Terrace, was taken from Montgomery County Prison to the District Court of Judge Armand A. Pomante in Paoli, where he was arraigned on charges of burglary, criminal trespassing, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and harassment....

Michael Riordan, 24, was sentenced yesterday to 6 1/2 to 13 years in prison for breaking into the East Falls home of Municipal Judge Charles J. Margiotti Jr. Margiotti shot and wounded Riordan as he was climbing into the house from a window. Common Pleas Judge William J. Mazzola also sentenced Riordan to a concurrent 6 1/2 to 13 years for the burglary of a Northeast Philadelphia home in October 1989. Riordan, who pleaded guilty to both burglaries in June, was free on bail in the first case when he broke into Margiotti's home, Assistant District Attorney Bruce Sagel said.

A West Philadelphia man, who chased an alleged burglar from his home last Dec. 17 and shot him to death, was convicted yesterday of involuntary manslaughter. Common Pleas Judge Lisa A. Richette told Randolph Coleman, 18, of Warrington Avenue near 55th Street, that killing Clifford Settle, 22, of Ridgewood Street near 60th, "was not justified. " The judge allowed Coleman to remain free on $15,000 bail and set sentencing for Dec. 17. "Attempt burglary doesn't warrant a death sentence," Assistant District Attorney Mary Futcher said.

CHERRY HILL A Pennsauken man who allegedly used a screwdriver to threaten a Cherry Hill homeowner during a botched burglary was arrested Tuesday, Cherry Hill police said. Jon D. Padula, 22, of Willis Avenue, was picked up in Lindenwold on Tuesday on a warrant issued for the May 15 break-in. Police said they were called that morning to a St. Davids Road residence where the homeowner confronted the burglar as he was leaving the house. During a struggle, the burglar allegedly threatened the homeowner with a screwdriver.

CHUCK MUNCIE, a Pro Bowl running back with both the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers, has died at age 60, the NFL clubs and a family spokesman said yesterday. Muncie family spokesman Vintage Foster, of AMF Media Group in San Ramon, Calif., said Muncie died at his Los Angeles-area home on Monday from heart failure. Muncie was the Saints' first-round pick, third overall, out of California in 1976. He played 4 1/2 seasons in New Orleans before being traded in 1980 to San Diego, where he finished his 9-year NFL career.

THE NAME Adam "Pacman" Jones always comes up when the conversation centers around athletes who are in trouble with the law. Jones, now with the Cincinnati Bengals, was arrested at least eight times from July 2005 to July 2011, and had numerous other run-ins with the law. The bar for unlawful off-the-field behavior might have been reset by free-agent receiver Titus Young. Early Saturday morning, the troubled 23-year-old Young was arrested for the third time in 6 days, including twice on the same day. Young was arrested and charged with suspicion of burglary, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest after police responded to a 911 burglary call from a house in San Clemente, Calif., Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Lt. Joe Balicki told NFL.com yesterday.

As husband and wife for more than 50 years, Louis and Judith Hartdegen were said to be inseparable. But something went very wrong early Monday, a domestic argument that turned deadly, according to police. Louis Hartdegen killed his wife and tried to pin the crime on a neighbor, they said. Louis Hartdegen, 75, had scratches and bruises to his face, and his 74-year-old wife lay unresponsive in bed, when police arrived at their apartment in the 6700 block of Castor Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia.

A guide dog interrupted a burglary and rescued a 54-year-old legally blind woman from a potential gas explosion early Friday in Northeast Philadelphia, police said. At 2:47 a.m., police were called to the 4700 block of Marple Street in Holmesburg, where they found that the woman had been led out of her house, said Capt. Francis Bachmayer, commanding officer of Northeast Detectives. The house had been filled with natural gas, Bachmayer said. The woman was awakened by her service dog barking, as at least one intruder had entered the house through a rear basement door, Bachmayer said.

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia said Wednesday it will break ground this summer on a new specialty care center in King of Prussia, replacing one that opened in 1997. The new center, in the Village at Valley Forge, will have 115,000 square feet, up from 70,000 square feet in two buildings at the existing site, CHOP said. Completion of the new center, which can be expanded to 195,000 square feet, is expected in early 2015. CHOP currently offers 20 medical and surgical specialties in King of Prussia, including a sports medicine program, pediatric imaging center, and a day hospital for oncology patients.

HIS NICKNAME is "Danger," the kind of guy who doesn't need a gun to end a fight. Michael K. Castro fought most of his battles in rings and the gyms where he trained as a Muay Thai kickboxer. But Atlantic County authorities say he allegedly shot and killed a 77-year-old Army veteran during a burglary last year in rural Mullica Township. Castro, 32, was arrested Tuesday in Dania, Fla., where he had moved and was in the process of opening a new Muay Thai gym. The former Burlington County resident described himself as a two-time Muay Thai world champion who has worked as a kickboxing instructor at gyms throughout South Jersey.

MAYS LANDING, N.J. - Steven Goff, the drifter handyman turned confessed killer, waited 23 years to admit killing 15-year-old Frederick "Rickey" Hart in the woods near Absegami High School, but his involvement in the death did not come as a surprise to local police. Goff, 41, known as a teenager to police for a string of burglaries and a steroid-distribution ring while a student at Absegami, was interviewed at the time of Hart's disappearance in May 1990, police sources said Wednesday.

MAYS LANDING, N.J. - Steven Goff, the drifter handyman turned confessed killer, waited 23 years to admit killing 15-year-old Frederick "Rickey" Hart in the woods near Absegami High School, but his involvement in the death did not come as a surprise to local police. Goff, 41, known as a teenager to police for a string of burglaries and a steroid distribution ring while a student at Absegami, was interviewed at the time of Hart's disappearance in May 1990, police sources said Wednesday.

When police found Emmanuel Gerao, 21, banging on doors Wednesday morning in his Lower Pottsgrove Township neighborhood, he told them three young nephews he had been watching had wandered off into a wooded area. Police mobilized their forces quickly and called in neighboring departments, multiple K-9 units, and a helicopter to search for the missing children, who, Gerao had said, were ages 6, 7 and 7. Turns out, police said, it was all a lie to cover up a burglary spree. Gerao, who was renting a room in the 1100 block of Crestwood Drive, has been charged with burglary, attempted burglary, trespass, making false reports and other related offenses.