KILLADELPHIA: Tipsters Help Cops Nab Brick Slayer
INQUIRER: Police yesterday arrested the man they said beat to death a 38-year-old landscaper with seven children last week in West Philadelphia and then made off with the victim’s wallet. The suspect is the man seen — with two small boys in tow — on a widely circulated surveillance video buying three fitted baseball caps during a shopping spree about an hour after Corey Moody was bashed on the head with a brick, police said. Billy Langley, 19, who police said has a record of violent crime, was arrested without incident about 5 p.m. in Southwest Philadelphia. Homicide Capt. James Clark last night credited the public and the media with helping the police find Langley. People began calling in with information soon after police released the surveillance video on Wednesday, he said. “The tip was directly from the surveillance,” Clark said. “It led us right to him.” Clark said no other arrests were expected. The video, shot last Friday afternoon, shows a man mugging in front of a mirror with newly bought jewelry paid for with Moody’s credit card. He also used the card to pay for the baseball caps, and altogether charged $500 to $600 to the victim’s account, police said. [via PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER]
HOMELESS: 7,000 Americans Foreclosed On Every Day
NEW YORK — The number of households facing the foreclosure process more than doubled in the second quarter compared to a year ago, according to data released today. Nationwide, 739,714 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice during the quarter, or one in every 171 U.S. households, Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac Inc. said. Soft housing sales, declining home values, tighter lending standards and a sluggish U.S. economy have left strapped homeowners with few options to avoid foreclosure. Many can’t find buyers or owe more than their home is worth and can’t refinance into an affordable loan. Economists estimated that 2.5 million homes nationwide would enter the foreclosure process this year, up from about 1.5 million in 2007. [via ASSOCIATED PRESS]
PEDO POLICE: State Trooper Busted In Online Kiddie Sex Sting
State Police Cpl. Albert Silveri III, a member of the collision/accident-reconstruction team with Troop K in Philadelphia, was arrested for allegedly using his state-issued laptop computer to solicit sex from a 33-year-old mother and her 8- and 10-year-old daughters. As it turned out, the mother he solicited for three months was an undercover detective with the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office. Silveri, 39, who used the screen name “StrongWilled07,” allegedly approached the detective in a chat room. Police said they traced the screen name back to Silveri through his Internet-service provider. Silveri, of Thomas Road near Concord in Aston, said he’d like the kids to show him their toys and rooms before he’d fondle one of them, the affidavit said. “[H]ave you there to keep her assured,” he allegedly wrote. “[T]ell her she is being good, perhaps have the other sitting with you . . . on your lap, make sure you both are watching.” Silveri allegedly wrote that he’d have one of the girls put her hand on his genitals. The adults, he said, would tell the girl that it is a “special game” where she needs to “rub extra hard.” He even suggests that the mother should be sexually “warming up” one daughter while he performs various acts on the other. Silveri said that he and the woman should perform sexual acts in front of the kids before they join in and imitate. “Im not into any really weird stuff,” he allegedly wrote, “like crapping on someone or cutting them or that sort of stuff.” [via DAILY NEWS]