Theft

A 14-YEAR veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department was arrested Monday for allegedly engaging in an ongoing conspiracy to steal from a local toy store, police said. Bridgette Paris, 48, was charged with retail theft, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, forgery and related offenses, police said. The charges followed an investigation by the department's Internal Affairs Bureau and the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. Police have not identified the store that Paris allegedly targeted.

Two officers of an Elkins Park brokerage firm have been charged by Cheltenham police with stealing $25,000 by allegedly forging checks to withdraw money from a client's investment account between September and April. Michael C. Lloyd, 34, of Abington, and Warren C. Nachmann, 45, of Cheltenham, surrendered at the Cheltenham Police Administration Building on Monday. They are partners of Lloyd Securites Inc. at 7837 Old York Rd. The Securities and Exchange Commission also charged Lloyd and Nachmann on June 6 in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia with defrauding their clients of several hundred thousand dollars, making fraudulent sales of unregistered securities and other violations of federal securities laws.

A North Philadelphia man was arrested yesterday and charged with stealing a pair of binoculars from the balloonists who inadvertently landed in a vacant lot at 7th and Oxford streets Saturday, police said. Acting on a tip from the Daily News, police went to the home of James "Big Boy" Williams, 31, on Franklin Street near Master to charge him with the theft, police said. But Williams wasn't home, and Detective Sgts. Gerard Duffy and Shawn Trush returned to East Detectives headquarters, only to find Williams sitting there, being booked on unrelated robbery charges, police said.

Missing: One U.S. mailbox. Postal Service authorities and police are looking for a blue mailbox, complete with eagle insignias, that was stolen from the corner of Cottman Avenue and Leon Street. The box, which had been bolted to the ground, was reported missing on Nov. 13. James Covert, superintendent of the Postal Service Boulevard Station, Levick and Revere Streets, reported the theft to police after a postal worker went to the corner to empty the mailbox, and discovered it missing.

Philadelphia police are searching for the thief who stole items donated to raise money for the families of two firefighters killed Monday when a five-alarm blaze engulfed a vacant building in Kensington. The theft was caught on surveillance video Friday night as firefighters and others crowded the SmokeEaters Pub on Frankford Avenue after viewings for Lt. Robert Neary, 59, and Firefighter Daniel Sweeney, 25. The men were killed when a wall collapsed onto an adjacent building from which they were fighting the fire.

A Council Rock High School graduate was apprehended by police at his alma mater early Wednesday for trying to steal lab equipment and other school supplies, Newtown Township police said. According to the police report, Robert Daniel Wallace, 22, of 52 Knowles Ave., Churchville, broke into the school, at 62 Swamp Rd., with a second man who fled the school before police arrived. Wallace told police that he and the other man got onto the building's roof, climbed through the greenhouse windows and entered the school building through a connecting door after removing a glass pane.

A West Chester contractor has been accused of using a former customer's name to take out three fraudulent loans, totaling $22,000, Caln police said. Joseph John Gullo, 42, of the 1000 block of Forest Road, was charged with forgery, theft, receiving stolen property and attempted theft after an investigation by Caln and Uwchlan police. The transactions occurred in late December at Commercial Credit Corp. in the Caln Village Shopping Center, American General Finance Inc. in Thorndale, and Avco Financial Services in Lionville.

A 19-year-old man was in custody and his father was being sought yesterday after authorities said the men made illegal U-turns in front of police with the stolen cars they had used to burglarize three Chinese restaurants in Burlington County. Charles J. Williams Jr. of Passaic was charged with burglary and theft and was being held in the Burlington County Jail on $10,000 bail. His father, Charles J. Williams Sr. of Burlington Township was being sought on charges of burglary and aggravated assault on police.

A Tacony woman has been charged with theft after police said she defrauded a Willow Grove woman of $3,000 when she read the woman's tarot cards and said the woman and her son would die unless a spell on them was removed. Police said the victim, identified as Marsha Seigh, 37, had her cards read by the suspect, Lilly Thompson, 41, of the 7000 block of Frankford Avenue, on March 23. During the reading, investigators said, Thompson told Seigh that the cards indicated that the lives of the woman and her son were in great danger because of a spell that had been placed on them.

It was a case of one thing just leading to another. First, according to police, Steven Taylor of Wilmington, became involved in an argument with a female passenger in his car as he was driving south on I-95 about 12:15 a.m. Oct. 10. Then, Taylor pulled over to the shoulder near the Bridge Street interchange and the woman got out of the car and started to walk along the highway, police said. While she was walking, two men in a truck pulled over and offered her a ride, an offer that she refused.

Raheem Brock, the Temple University and NFL defensive standout, has been acquitted of skipping out on a $27 bill from a South Street bar last spring. Brock, 33, who was charged with theft and resisting arrest shortly after leaving Copabanana with his cousin and a friend on June 16, was found not guilty of the theft charge Thursday after a two-day trial at the Criminal Justice Center. He had been cleared of the resisting-arrest charge at a previous trial. "It feels great," Brock said Friday.

Raheem Brock, the Temple University and NFL defensive standout, has been acquitted of skipping out on a $27 bill from a South Street bar last spring. Brock, 33, who was charged with theft and resisting arrest shortly after leaving Copabanana with his cousin and a friend on June 16, was found not guilty of the theft charge Thursday after a two-day trial at the Criminal Justice Center. He had been cleared of the resisting-arrest charge at a previous trial. "It feels great," Brock said Friday.

Raheem Brock, the Temple University and NFL defensive standout, has been found not guilty of skipping out on a $27 South Street bar bill last spring. Brock, 33, who was charged with theft and resisting arrest shortly after leaving Copabanana with his cousin and a friend on June 16, was found not guilty Thursday of the theft charge following a two-day trial at the Criminal Justice Center. He was cleared of the resisting arrest charge at a previous trial. "It feels great," Brock said Friday.

CARLISLE, Pa. - The wife of Pennsylvania's budget secretary pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of retail theft. Georgina Zogby, 48, of Mechanicsburg, entered the pleas in Cumberland County Court in Carlisle, the Harrisburg Patriot-News reported. She is to be sentenced next month for stealing merchandise from T.J. Maxx and groceries from Wegmans, the paper reported. Defense lawyer Bill Fulton said he would seek a sentence of probation, saying Zogby had been sober for seven months and was undergoing treatment.

STATE law-enforcement officials busted what they said was an international car-theft ring operating in the Philadelphia area. Attorney General Linda Kelly and Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan announced the arrests and filing of criminal charges against 26 people, including 15 from Philadelphia, on Tuesday. "This was a focused and elaborate operation aimed at primarily high-end luxury cars and SUVs, often snatched from car-dealership lots or service departments in communities around Philadelphia," Kelly said.

State law enforcement officials busted what they said was an international car theft ring operating in the greater Philadelphia area. Attorney General Linda Kelly and Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan announced the arrests and filing of criminal charges against 26 people, including 15 from Philadelphia on Tuesday. "This was a focused and elaborate operation aimed at primarily high-end luxury cars and SUVs, often snatched from car dealership lots or service departments in communities around Philadelphia," Kelly said.

Philadelphia police are searching for the thief who stole items donated to raise money for the families of two firefighters killed Monday when a five-alarm blaze engulfed a vacant building in Kensington. The theft was caught on surveillance video Friday night as firefighters and others crowded the SmokeEaters Pub on Frankford Avenue after viewings for Lt. Robert Neary, 59, and Firefighter Daniel Sweeney, 25. The men were killed when a wall collapsed onto an adjacent building from which they were fighting the fire.

A registered nurse who cared for an elderly Medford Township man has been indicted on charges including money laundering and theft related to $560,000 missing from a patient's bank accounts, authorities said Thursday. Authorities said Mariejo Cherestal, 46, also a township resident, convinced the patient, a retired Army command sergeant major, to place her name on the accounts. Between March 2009 and May 2010, checks ranging from $200 and $100,000 were issued to Cherestal under several names.

The ex-chief financial officer of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia waived her right to a preliminary hearing Thursday in Municipal Court so she would not "inconvenience" anyone from the archdiocese by requiring them to come to court during Holy Week, her attorney said. Anita Guzzardi, 43, of Barrington, Camden County, was charged last month with stealing more than $900,000 in church money, reportedly to pay for trips, gifts and cash advances at casinos. Municipal Judge Gerard A. Kosinski ordered Guzzardi held for trial on charges of theft, theft by deception, receiving stolen property, unlawful use of a computer and forgery, and set her arraignment for April 24. Defense Attorney Louis R. Busico said Guzzardi was "holding herself accountable" and would resolve the charges "by admitting her wrongdoing.

The ex-chief financial officer of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia waived her right to a preliminary hearing Thursday in Municipal Court so that she wouldn't "inconvenience" anyone from the Archdiocese by requiring them to come to court during Holy Week, her attorney said. Anita Guzzardi, 43, of Barrington, Camden County, was charged last month with stealing more than $900,000 in church money, reportedly to pay for trips, gifts and cash advances at casinos. Municipal Court Judge Gerard Kosinski ordered Guzzardi held for trial on charges of theft, theft by deception, receiving stolen property, unlawful use of a computer and forgery, and set her arraignment for April 24. Defense Attorney Louis R. Busico said that Guzzardi is "holding herself accountable" and will resolve the charges "by admitting her wrongdoing.