Police say five teenagers, believed to be about 15 years old, were arrested Wednesday afternoon for breaking into a vacant property on the 4900 block of Pine Street. Local residents reported seeing some of the teens “running across roofs” on the block at about 3 p.m. A large police presence was observed at the scene. The teens were charged for defiant trespass, according to police.
January 6th, 2016 at 7:13 pm
The teens were in and out of that building for a week now.
January 6th, 2016 at 8:04 pm
Any link to the teens that have been robbing folks near to pine on 49th?
January 6th, 2016 at 9:55 pm
I don’t know- there have been many muggings on Osage as well. The teens who were in there two days ago made me think of that , but the group of four who went in yesterday where too young to fit the descriptions. They were all different from today’s group.
January 7th, 2016 at 5:22 am
I am glad they caught this teens, someone could’ve been hurt running around on rooftops. Hope the City steps up and give them some sort of outlet during the summer, give them something to do
January 7th, 2016 at 5:54 am
The kids need some king of positive incentive to keep them out of trouble. Are there not any mentoring programs, afterschool programs, internships that could keep them out of mischief? More businesses need to get involved with the Philadelphia School district to help these troubled youths. Also, reading, these children, especially the boys need to be able to read well before they reach 3rd grade. I’d be willing to volunteer my services to help young children become better readers.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:44 am
On top of (free) taxpayer-funded K-12 public education, there already are lots of (free) mentoring programs, (free) after-school programs, and (free) internships. There are also taxpayer-funded (free) libraries in which the students can read (free) books and use (free) computers, in addition to taxpayer-funded community/rec centers. Or the kids could just go home and do their homework, or otherwise occupy themselves in ways that don’t involve muggings/breaking & entering.
In other words, these students already have opportunities that people in many parts of the world would kill for. Do we need a non-profit for every ‘disadvantaged’ (read: wildly privileged in a global context) West Philly youth? Don’t the students/parents bear some responsibility for not taking advantage of the abundant opportunities that already exist?
January 7th, 2016 at 12:21 pm
To me, loitering in a vacant building does not equate to mugging people on the street. One involves vicious pleasure in the suffering of others, and the other, while dangerous and illegal, is just mischievous and does little to shake my faith in people. While commenters clearly want to talk about the mugging problem in the neighborhood, I don’t believe that it relates to the article above.
January 7th, 2016 at 12:39 pm
The proximity and ages are what made me wonder if it was the same kids.