Ehrlich

When the South Philadelphia father found out in 1993 that Bernard Jefferson, 34, had raped one of his daughters and molested another while baby- sitting, he wanted street justice. The man confronted Jefferson, and the two fought, said Assistant District Attorney Charles Ehrlich yesterday. Ehrlich didn't get the fight results, but he knew that police later arrested Jefferson for the sex attacks that had occurred in May 1991. And yesterday Jefferson was sentenced to prison.

When Darryl Bell was about to be sentenced for forcing a young girl to have sex with him, he asked the judge to "consider my record. " Bell, 51, wasn't talking about his criminal record, which showed he was on parole for the 1961 murder of a Germantown grocer. What he wanted Common Pleas Judge Joseph T. Murphy to consider was how he educated himself in prison and became a minister. Murphy told Bell he had abused his opportunity at freedom when he engaged in sex with the girl and had to be punished.

The North Philadelphia woman told the judge that her rapist has AIDS, and she fears for her safety. "I'll be worried about it for the rest of my life," she said at Lewis Henderson's sentencing hearing before Common Pleas Judge David N. Savitt last week. "He didn't have to do that to me," the victim, 33, sighed. "I feel sorry for myself. " Assistant District Attorney Charles Ehrlich confirmed Henderson's medical condition, and said the woman recently tested negative for AIDS.

A 16-year veteran of the Police Department was convicted yesterday on morals charges stemming from a relationship he had with a 13-year-old North Philadelphia girl whose family he had befriended, the district attorney's office said. Detective Charles Pflugfelder, 41, of Germantown was found guilty by Common Pleas Judge Tama-Myers Clark of corrupting the morals of a minor, a first- degree misdemeanor, according to Assistant District Attorney Charles Ehrlich. Pflugfelder, who was fired after the charges were filed, will be given psychological tests before his sentencing in December.

Four teen-age boys yesterday were convicted of taking part in the gang- attack on two men in separate incidents near the Art Museum on June 30. Assistant District Attorney Charles Ehrlich described the attacks, which occurred 10 minutes apart, as "animal-like. These were wolf-pack attacks. " Convicted of robbery, theft, receiving stolen property and conspiracy charges were Kenneth Bell, 16, of 23rd Street near Carpenter; Bradley Poole, 16, of Poplar Street near 19th; Benjamin Green, 16, of Girard Avenue near 20th Street; and Walter Dockery, 15, of Cambridge Street near 19th.

The judge said she was horrified that a man would punish his girlfriend's 3-year-old son by dipping him into scalding water. So horrified she put the boyfriend, Andres Burgos, 26, away for 13 to 26 years to ponder his deed. The boy, now 5, suffered third- degree burns on his buttocks and genitals. "Both parents are responsible," said Common Pleas Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes in imposing sentence on charges of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and related charges in the Aug. 5, 1997, incident.

The prosecutor told a judge that an accused rapist and members of his family have engaged in "a pattern of harassment" against the alleged victim, and he threatened to arrest them. Assistant District Attorney Charles Ehrlich said the defendant, Steven Castillo, 28, of 5th Street near Tioga, and at least two relatives, even tried to prevent the 43-year-old victim from getting to court for a preliminary hearing yesterday. They failed, and Castillo was ordered to stand trial on rape and assault charges.

Will accused child molester Edward I. Savitz be allowed to enter a West Philadelphia facility for psychiatric care, and treatment for AIDS? That question will be answered next week, when a three-judge state Superior Court panel decides whether to reduce his $4 million bail. Defense lawyers Barnaby Wittels and Stephen LaCheen yesterday asked the court to grant "reasonable bail," so the 50-year-old Center City man can be moved from the Detention Center to the medical facility.

The 25-year-old Bucks County man knew he was painted into a corner for committing two rapes and one attempted rape in the Art Museum area last summer. So Joseph N. Lynch, of Lahaska, Bucks County, a restaurant dishwasher, didn't attempt to color the truth by framing a defense yesterday. He pleaded guilty before Common Pleas Judge Carolyn E. Temin and was committed to prison to await sentencing. The judge ordered a background report and psychiatric tests. Assistant District Attorney Charles Ehrlich told Temin that he wants to call the victims at the sentencing hearing.

The 15-year-old runaway thought she'd give prostitution a try. But on her first - and only - night on the job, she was cheated by one customer, given drugs by another and nearly killed by a berserk former mental patient. She has decided to try a less hazardous occupation. Testifying against the attacker yesterday, the girl told a judge the suspect, Joseph Olsen, 56, struck her on the head with a brick, threw her to the sidewalk and tried to rape her near 19th and Callowhill streets.

Thomas Scantling has not yet entered a plea in the unprovoked Sept. 4 hammer attack on a sleeping Broad Street subway passenger, but yesterday he apologized anyway, telling a Philadelphia judge that he wanted to accept responsibility for "my actions. " "I was off my medications," Scantling, 27, told Municipal Court President Judge Marsha H. Neifield in unusual pretrial remarks. "But now I see clearly, and I want to take responsibility for my actions. " Scantling's brief statement came at the end of a session in which he waived his right to a preliminary hearing on attempted-murder and assault charges in the attack on Dewayne Taylor, a lab worker on his way home from work.

Stephen Ehrlich, 84, an accountant and a committed Zionist whose family fled Germany after the violence that accompanied the rise of Nazism touched it personally, died Wednesday at Penn Medicine at Rittenhouse after a stroke. Mr. Ehrlich spent most of his professional career as chief financial officer for Rayco and Bright Star Industries, makers of batteries and flashlights. His family escaped Adolf Hitler and the Nazis after a bomb exploded in his father's food factory in Frankfurt in 1936.

Paranoia runs deep in the thinking of Maryland's governor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Is it because he ended the Democrats' 36-year primacy in the Annapolis statehouse to become the first GOP governor since Spiro T. Agnew? Or because he foiled the dynastic expectations of former Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend? Or is it the scrutiny his oft-candid speech has drawn, as when he described multiculturalism as "bunk"? Whatever the reason, it works for him. "I feel I'm under a microscope," Ehrlich said recently during a day of school visits.

Mak Kendall will have a chance today to make up for something he felt he missed out on last year. That is when the Harriton junior was not able to compete in the District 1 Class AA tennis championships. Kendall's play was clearly the class of the AA field yesterday on the first day of the tournament. He advanced to the championship match against Lower Moreland's Mike Ehrlich which will be played at 1 p.m. at the HealthPlex in Springfield (Delaware County). The Class AAA semifinals will begin at 1 p.m. also.

It was former Trammps singer Jerry Collins' judgment day, a chance to repent for savagely beating his wife and to beg for mercy. But remorse wasn't his way. Instead, at his sentencing hearing yesterday, Collins launched into a long-winded rant before Common Pleas Judge Gregory Smith, blaming the media, the judicial system, his attorney and even his wife. Despite several sob-laden pleas for leniency, including one from Collins' elderly ailing mother and his 21-year-old son, Smith sentenced Collins to 12 1/2 to 25 years in prison for attempted murder and other charges related to beating his wife, Veronica.

Something went terribly wrong for Michael J. Smith. The fire lieutentant was a highly respected firefighter, a leader who earned the confidence of his men, a 16-year veteran. But somewhere along the line, his life fell apart. He got hooked on drugs, and his behavior became erratic, one official said. Smith, 44, of Robbins Street in Northeast Philadelphia, began sending firefighters out on phony calls by dialing 911. When firefighters were out of their station houses answering the false alarms, someone slipped in and stole petty cash from food funds.

In a hostile exchange with a prosecutor yesterday, Veronica Collins adamantly testified that she is not afraid of her husband, Trammps singer Jerry Collins. "I'm not in fear of Jerry harming me or my children. I'm not," Veronica Collins said firmly. She showed no outward sign of the massive head injuries that left her clinging to life last February. However, Common Pleas Court Judge James J. Fitzgerald 3d declined to allow Jerry Collins, 43, to go free on bail before his Feb. 23 trial.

Under normal conditions, Kelly Raum spends her workday looking for rats in restaurants. These days, she's on a hunt for mosquitoes, particularly the Culex pipiens variety, the common Northern house mosquito. It is this species that carries the West Nile virus, which has been known to cause fatal cases of encephalitis in humans. Last week, Raum, an environmental health specialist with the Chester County Health Department, spotted mosquito larvae in a pool of stagnant water behind the Phoenixville sewage treatment plant.

Veronica Collins, wife of singer Jerry Collins, told prosecutors she was too sick to attend her husband's hearing yesterday for battering her on Feb. 14. Assistant District Attorney Charles Ehrlich thought she was faking. He told Municipal Judge James M. DeLeon that Veronica Collins, 34, has been the victim of "ongoing physical and sexual assault" by her 43-year-old husband, a member of the singing group, Tramms. Ehrlich said that after Collins nearly killed her in a second beating on Feb. 27, Veronica disregarded her own request for a stay-away order against him, and visited him four times in prison.

Steve Ehrlich has a good memory, but there are some things he would rather forget. The Lower Moreland senior headed into last year's PIAA District 1 Class AA tennis finals with high expectations. He thought he had a good chance of winning, only to finish third. Ehrlich and his doubles partner, Andrew Weissman, were the top-seeded duo, and they were upset in the district finals in a three-set match. A two-time winner of the Bicentennial League singles title, Ehrlich entered this season fueled by the memory of those district finishes.