IMPLICATED: Cops Charge Kids With Computer Snooping On Murdered Dad
ARUNKUMAR Ingle never knew that he allegedly was being watched for four years by the very people he once watched over. Ingle’s children, Parth, 22, and Avnee, 25, were charged Tuesday in Delaware County with repeatedly hacking into their dad’s e-mail account and tracking his whereabouts with concealed GPS devices in his cars. It was only when Arunkumar Ingle, 55, was discovered beaten and stabbed to death inside his Middletown Township home on Jan. 21 that the alleged spying came to light through state police investigations. The Ingle children were convinced that their father was leading a double life that involved extramarital affairs, including one with a Russian woman named “Anna,” according to court documents. On Tuesday, 10 months into the open murder investigation, Parth and Avnee Ingle were each charged with more than 450 computer crimes — including interception, disclosure or use of an electronic communication and unlawful use of a computer. State Trooper Robert Kirby, the lead investigator, said that the Ingle children showed “no emotion” at the arraignment. No one has been charged with their father’s death, but Kirby said he was “very confident” an arrest would be made. “This was not a random crime,” he said. “We’re not revealing anybody as suspects, but Mister Ingle was killed definitely by someone he knows – well.” [via DAILY NEWS]
WHEN THE MUSIC’S OVER: Tweeter Electronics Chain Pulls The Plug
Tweeter, a national electronics chain that entered the Philadelphia market in 1996 by buying high-end rival Bryn Mawr Stereo, abruptly converted its bankruptcy case to Chapter 7 liquidation Tuesday. It then closed its 70 stores and fired more than 600 employees. The chain had been set to shut its doors for good this weekend. Employees said they were still owed vacation time, at least one week’s pay, and bonuses that were promised as part of the liquidation sale. They also said customers were not able to pick up merchandise they had already purchased. Bryn Mawr’s first store was opened in 1946 by podiatrist Arthur Briskin as Bryn Mawr Radio & Television, on Lancaster Avenue. When it was purchased by the Massachusetts company, Bryn Mawr Stereo had annual sales of $35 million and employed 170 people in 13 stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. Analysts at the time said the combination made sense because the two companies had similar approaches. The Bryn Mawr Stereo name died in 2001. The stores became Tweeter on the same day that the Waterfront Entertainment Center in Camden became the Tweeter Center at the Waterfront. This year, the Tweeter Center became the Susquehanna Bank Center. [via PHILLY.COM]
REMAINDERED: ‘Black Wednesday’ Shake-Up Rocks Publishing Industry
In a day of especially grim news for the book business, Random House, the world’s largest publisher of consumer books, announced a sweeping reorganization aimed at trimming costs, while Simon & Schuster laid off 35 people. The moves signaled just how bad sales have become in bookstores and followed the news this week that the publisher of the adult division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the house that represents authors including Philip Roth and José Saramago, had resigned, presumably in protest of a temporary freeze on the acquisition of new books. Industry insiders were already calling it “Black Wednesday” as news trickled out about further layoffs at Houghton Mifflin, a cut of 10 percent of the staff at Thomas Nelson, the world’s largest publisher of English-language Bibles, a freeze on raises at the Penguin Group unit of Pearson and a delay of pay increases at HarperCollins, the books division of the News Corporation. [via NEW YORK TIMES]