Neighbor Eli Green reports some porch thefts recently near 49th and Springfield:

“I wanted to give a head’s up that in the past few days between our house and the neighbors’, three bikes have had their front wheels stolen.   The bikes have been chain locked to the porches, and the thefts have occurred while people were home – both in the afternoon and at night. (This in the 49th/Springfield area). This comes after having the cushion to my porch papasan chair stolen, and something I would have sworn was least likely to get stolen- a compost bucket full of stinky, rotting compost.”

Two people were charged yesterday with the murder of 3-year-old Jaquinn Brewton, who died earlier this week from injuries suffered late last month in an apartment building on the 4700 block of Chestnut Street.

Police say Brewton’s caregiver, 22-year-old Nadera Batson, and her boyfriend, 23-year-old Marcus King, systematically tortured the toddler, including burning him with a small blow torch and beating him.

Brewton died on Tuesday after being taken off life support at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he was admitted on June 29 after Batson said he fell down a flight of steps. The 3-year-old began living with Batson, who is reportedly the boy’s godmother, in March. His mother and five siblings were living in a homeless shelter.

Both Batson and King have criminal records. Batson was arrested in 2007 on theft charges and King pleaded guilty to assault charges in 2009.

Brewton was taken to CHOP after Batson said she found him unconscious on the steps in her apartment building. His family asked that he be taken off life support earlier this week. He died within minutes of being taken off.

Neighbors interviewed on the day Brewton was found said they suspected abuse at the apartment, but never reported it.

Have you had anything stolen in the last year or so? Maybe a camera? Or an I-pod? There is a chance it might be sitting at the police department’s 18th District headquarters right now.

Southwest Detectives discovered a massive cache of what they say are fenced items in a clothing store near 52nd and Chestnut. The items recovered include hundreds of cameras, cell phones, I-pods, flat screen TVs, gaming systems, jewelry and GPS devices. Police are asking that victims of robberies, burglaries and break-ins come to the 18th District headquarters at 55th and Pine Streets after 4 p.m. today to claim an item.

The tricky part of this, of course, is identifying and proving what is yours. Police say they will work with people, but that a police report filed when the item was taken would be extremely helpful.

Police believe most of the items were stolen from West, Southwest and South Philadelphia and Upper Darby.

Three-year-old Jaquinn Brewton, the boy who was hospitalized after his caregiver said he fell down a flight of stairs late last month, died Tuesday within minutes of being taken off life support. After an autopsy last night revealed that his injuries were due to “blunt force trauma,” his death was ruled a homicide.

Police say no charges have been filed yet.

Brewton’s caregiver, who has been described as a “family friend,” told police that she found him unconscious on the steps of an apartment building on the 4700 block of Chestnut Street on June 29. She told police he had fallen down the stairs.

Brewton’s mother, who was staying in a homeless shelter at the time, has alleged that Brewton was abused. She has said that doctors told her that the boy had been burned on various parts of his body.

Police are still searching for a male in his early 20s who stabbed and robbed a woman near 45th and Pine Streets on Monday night.

The victim, who police described as an 18-year-old Asian woman, was stabbed in the back three times and robbed of her cell phone. Police say the suspect was black male in his early 20s wearing a white t-shirt.

The robbery took place at about 11:30 p.m. The victim was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and was in stable condition.

The computer stolen from a man who was attacked by a group of 10-12 youths last week has been returned.

A reader and friend of the victim writes:

An update: University of the Sciences (USP) police noticed one of the kids with a laptop near USP campus. He got scared, dumped the laptop in the bushes and ran. Police ID’ed him and were able to find him and the victim got his laptop back (but not his phone). Thanks to Lt. Brian McBride of the 18th District who worked on recovering the laptop and getting it back to the rightful owner. Unfortunately, as noted above, these are kids bored for the summer, acting out in negative ways. With nothing else to do, this is what happens. It’s a story that’s been playing out all through history.