Child Endangerment

A Lansdale mother of three was arrested and charged with child endangerment Sunday after two of her children, ages 5 and 8, wandered into a Kulpsville restaurant cold, hungry, and begging for something to drink. The next day, the woman allegedly was involved in a hit-and-run accident in Lansdale, and on Wednesday, she was arrested again. She was held in the Montgomery County prison on DUI and other charges, with bail set at $25,000. Staffers at Pudge's Steaks & Hoagies, 1555 Sumneytown Pike, reported the two lost children to Towamencin Township police about noon Sunday, according to Chief Paul T. Dickinson.

A Camden County math teacher who shot nude pictures of a Philadelphia teenager - and was arrested after he tried to develop them at a drugstore - pleaded guilty yesterday to child endangerment. Under a plea agreement, Kim J. Carlos, 49, is to be sentenced to three years in prison with no chance of parole. He is barred from holding any public job and must register as a sex offender. Carlos met the 15-year-old boy at a Center City coffee shop in May 2003, lured the teenager to his home in Laurel Springs, and snapped three nude photographs, officials said.

A 16-year-old mother from West Philadelphia faces charges of child endangerment after her infant son nearly drowned in a bathtub Sunday, police said. The 7-month-old baby was admitted to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in critical condition around 10 p.m. Sunday. He remained hospitalized Tuesday, police said. Police did not release the name of the mother because she is a minor. The teenager told police she was bathing her son and left the room briefly to get a towel from the basement, at least one story down.

A state Superior Court judge has agreed that a Cherry Hill couple should be tried separately on charges of child endangerment, prostitution and witness tampering in a case that grew out of an investigation into the 1998 death of a 3-year-old girl in their backyard pool. Dorina Pizio, 51, and her boyfriend, Martin Hunsinger, 54, were playing host to a Memorial Day party when Samantha Wand drowned. Samantha's father, Michael Wand, was smoking a hallucinogen, PCP, and pleaded guilty in June 2000 to endangering her welfare.

THE PHILADELPHIA jury that will begin deliberating today over whether a homeless mother of six starved one of her children to death was confronted with dueling pictures of the baby yesterday. On the one hand, a series of cellphone photographs and a video showed little Quasir Alexander surrounded by seemingly healthy and happy siblings and adult relatives as he sucked on bottles and pacifiers. But on the other, Assistant District Attorney Peter Lim countered with what was likely the last picture of Quasir, taken shortly after the 2-month-old boy died at a city homeless shelter Dec. 23, 2010.

A Philadelphia judge has affirmed the guilty verdict - and her own handling - of last year's landmark trial of the first Catholic Church official criminally charged for his role supervising priests accused of child sexual abuse. The opinion, filed April 12 by Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, was required by Superior Court in its review of Msgr. William J. Lynn's appeal of his child endangerment conviction. Sarmina's response was anything but routine: a 235-page opinion bristling with quotations, citations, and footnotes, and an eight-page index.

LOWER TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Authorities say seven juveniles and an adult face charges stemming from the alleged sexual assault of a youth during an outdoor gathering last week. Some of those charged drank alcohol during the March 15 gathering in the woods in Lower Township, Cape May County prosecutors told the Press of Atlantic City. The victim was treated at a hospital after being sexually assaulted and physically abused, but details about the alleged victim and attack were not disclosed.

Montgomery County authorities on Friday arrested an Upper Dublin High School teacher on child endangerment and other charges for allegedly trading sexually explicit messages with a female student and giving her "a sex device" at the school. The teacher, Cheryl Bremble, "encouraged the juvenile to use the device on numerous occasions during text message conversations," according to a news release issued by Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman and Upper Dublin Police Chief Terrence Thompson.

A Monroe Township woman has been charged with child endangerment after her 2-year-old nephew drowned in a lake last week. Felicia Tucker, 26, was arrested Tuesday and charged with second-degree child endangerment, according to a statement from the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office. She was released on her own recognizance. Tucker was looking after her nephew, who was autistic, on the evening of Aug. 1 when he wandered off, authorities said. Tucker, who lives with the boy's family, called police about 8:25 p.m. to report him missing.

THE PHILADELPHIA jury that will begin deliberating today over whether a homeless mother of six starved one of her children to death was confronted with dueling pictures of the baby yesterday. On the one hand, a series of cellphone photographs and a video showed little Quasir Alexander surrounded by seemingly healthy and happy siblings and adult relatives as he sucked on bottles and pacifiers. But on the other, Assistant District Attorney Peter Lim countered with what was likely the last picture of Quasir, taken shortly after the 2-month-old boy died at a city homeless shelter Dec. 23, 2010.

A Philadelphia judge has affirmed the guilty verdict - and her own handling - of last year's landmark trial of the first Catholic Church official criminally charged for his role supervising priests accused of child sexual abuse. The opinion, filed April 12 by Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, was required by Superior Court in its review of Msgr. William J. Lynn's appeal of his child endangerment conviction. Sarmina's response was anything but routine: a 235-page opinion bristling with quotations, citations, and footnotes, and an eight-page index.

A Vineland, N.J., man convicted of fatally injuring his infant son in 2011 was sentenced Friday to more than a decade in state prison. The Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office said Ronald Cuff Jr., 20, was sentenced to 14 years on his conviction of reckless manslaughter and child endangerment in the death of his 2-month-old son. Prosecutors said Cuff caused the child's death by repeatedly shaking him. The child died a week after his maternal grandmother...

LOWER TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Authorities are examining cellphones and social-media postings in the investigation of the alleged sexual assault of a girl at a teen party in the woods in South Jersey. Seven juveniles and one adult have been charged, Cape May County prosecutors said. A juvenile victim was sexually assaulted and "physically abused" March 15 near a Lower Township neighborhood, prosecutors said. One juvenile is charged with sexual assault, the Atlantic City Press reported. Charges against the others include aggravated assault, endangering an injured victim, and alcohol consumption.

LOWER TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Authorities say seven juveniles and an adult face charges stemming from the alleged sexual assault of a youth during an outdoor gathering last week. Some of those charged drank alcohol during the March 15 gathering in the woods in Lower Township, Cape May County prosecutors told the Press of Atlantic City. The victim was treated at a hospital after being sexually assaulted and physically abused, but details about the alleged victim and attack were not disclosed.

Tianna Edwards, operator of the North Philadelphia day-care center where a 7-year-old boy drowned last summer, has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of involuntary manslaughter, the District Attorney's Office announced Monday. Edwards, 31, was facing manslaughter and child endangerment charges in the June death of Isear Jeffcoat. The grand jury indicted her on 20 additional counts of child endangerment and 21 counts of reckless endangerment, plus welfare fraud, medical assistance fraud, and tampering with public records.

In a case that has already put a Philadelphia Catholic Church official behind bars for covering up child sexual abuse, a jury returned guilty verdicts Wednesday against a priest and a former parochial-school teacher for the sexual assault of a 10-year-old Northeast altar boy. Wednesday's verdicts against the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero for the serial sexual assault of a St. Jerome's pupil in 1998 and 1999 were lauded by District Attorney...

The child-rape trial of a Philadelphia Catholic priest and an ex-parochial-school teacher goes to a Common Pleas Court jury Friday after the end of testimony and one defense lawyer's plea for acquittal. Burton A. Rose urged jurors not to convict former teacher Bernard Shero because of his awkward appearance or the salacious nature of the charges against him. In his closing Thursday, Rose read the list of charges against the 49-year-old, vision-impaired English teacher: rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, child endangerment, and two related counts.

The child-rape trial of a Philadelphia Catholic priest and an ex-parochial-school teacher goes to a Common Pleas Court jury Friday after the end of testimony and one defense lawyer's plea for acquittal. Burton A. Rose urged jurors not to convict former teacher Bernard Shero because of his awkward appearance or the salacious nature of the charges against him. In his closing Thursday, Rose read the list of charges against the 49-year-old, vision-impaired English teacher: rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, child endangerment, and two related counts.