JUSTICE: Raping Rohypnotist To Face Extradition?

Marsalis, a former Sun Valley Co. employee, is accused in Blaine County of drugging and raping a co-worker at his Atelier condominium in Sun Valley in October 2005. Blaine County authorities plan to try to extradite Marsalis to face a rape charge here at the conclusion of court proceedings against him in Philadelphia. IDAHO MOUNTAIN EXPRESS: It’s Almost Like There Is A Pattern Here, What With The Drugging And The Raping And The Lying Over And Over And Over Again

TOLDJA: Wouldbe Columbine Copycat Charged

Authorities in Montgomery County, Pa. have now filed charges against a former student at Upper Merion High School who they say sent threatening Internet messages to students and then showed up at the school last week (see related story). The charges against 19-year-old Thomas Musetti include making terroristic threats and reckless endangerment. Court papers reveal that Musetti sent instant messages saying he was seeking revenge against everyone and was trying to get a gun. “He was operating under a screen name, ‘Icecoldveins4u.’ He made threatening references involving other people, involving Graduation Day, and referencing some very horrifying events we are […]

Mr. Richard Smoker Meets Hammer Head

An “active user” of a homosexual phone-hookup line made a bad connection when he invited a caller to his Wallingford condominium and was beaten while performing oral sex on a new acquaintance, according to Nether Providence Township Police.”The suspect sits down and the victim provides him with oral sex, but it wasn’t completed before everything stopped when the suspect hit him,” Irey said. “The victim goes down to the ground and looks up and this guy has a hammer.” Afterward, the victim was forced to drive to two ATMs and the assailant was able to remove $200 from the victim’s […]

Fed Judge Dismisses Muslim Cop’s Head Scarf Suit

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge ruled that the city’s police department did not violate the civil rights of a Muslim officer when it forbade her from wearing a head scarf on the job. Kimberlie Webb, 44, who has been on the force more than 10 years, filed a discrimination lawsuit in October 2005 after the department said she could not wear a khimar at work because the religious symbol violated uniform regulations. U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III on Tuesday sided with the city and dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the police department did not discriminate or retaliate against Webb. […]

Nanny-Basher To Stand Trial For Bashing Nanny

BY KATHY BOCCELLA OF THE INQUIRER Susan Tabas Tepper, [NOT pictured] the Main Line millionaire accused of attacking her nanny in a rage over unfinished chores last month, waived a hearing on simple assault and harassment charges today and will face trial on Aug. 8 in Montgomery County Court.The Villanova banking and hotel heiress smiled as she arrived at the District Justice office in Narberth in handcuffs. She is currently in Montgomery County prison, where she has been held since May 23 on charges she violated her probation stemming from a Feb. 26 assault conviction. Tepper, 44, looked pale and […]

BIG DIG: All Men Are Created Equal — Eventually

BY RICK MORAN In 1789, Congress was charged with the difficult task of locating a Capitol city that would satisfy the concerns of the two sections, north and south. The current Capitol of New York was deemed unacceptable by most — except New Yorkers for the most part. Congress had earlier carved out some land near Trenton, New Jersey to serve as the Capitol but southerners put their foot down and refused to appropriate any monies to build anything on the site. The Senate compromised by moving the Capitol to Philadelphia following the second session of the new Congress while […]

VERDICT: Match.com Rohypnotist Guilty Of Sex Assault

A Common Pleas Court jury today found Jeffrey Marsalis — accused of drugging and raping seven women whom he met on Match.com — guilty of two counts of sexual assault and not guilty on five other counts. The jurors failed to reach a verdict on one count of rape. The jury of eight women and four men began deliberating last Thursday after 2 ? weeks of testimony highlighted by the appearances of the seven women who accused Marsalis, 34, of drugging and raping them. The assaults occurred from 2003 to 2005, they said. Marsalis was found not guilty on the […]

THE EARLY WORD: We’ve Got Levitation

WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN’: The Woggles perform tonight at the North Star Bar. The Woggles are a garage band in the wooly, frat-rock party-animal tradition of ’60s bands like the Sonics. All the songs sound like steroid-fed mash-ups of “Louie, Louie” and “Shout,” and on a good night, it’s all you can do not to stand up between songs and shout, “Otis! My man!” Based in Atlanta, the Woggles are fronted by a Don Imus lookalike named Manfred Jones, who, on this night, is hands down the hardest-working man in garage rock. By the second song his sweat-soaked black tuxedo shirt […]

Lightning Strikes Teen, Stops Heart, Sets Shirt On Fire

Lightning struck a 14-year-old Cherry Hill boy [NOT pictured] yesterday afternoon, stopping his heart, setting his shirt on fire, and eventually landing him at the Temple University Hospital’s Burn Center, where he was in critical but stable condition this morning. Just after 5:30 p.m., as thunderstorms moved through, a resident in 300 block of Monroe Avenue heard the loud boom of a lightning strike and looked out the window to see a boy lying on the ground with his shirt on fire, according to Lt. Bill Kushina of Cherry Hill police. The resident called 911, ran outside and used his […]

TODAY I SAW…

[Photo by JONATHAN VALANIA] BY JEFF DEENEY “Today I saw…” is a series of nonfiction shorts based on my experiences as a caseworker serving formerly homeless families now living in North and West Philadelphia. I decided not long after starting the job that I was seeing so many fascinating and disturbing things in the city’s poorest neighborhoods that I needed to start cataloging them. I hope this bi-weekly column serves as a record of a side of the city that many Philadelphians don’t come in contact with on a daily basis. I want to capture moments not frequently covered by […]