Crossing guard faces drug charges
2 relatives & girl also charged
A longtime school-crossing guard stands accused of dealing drugs out of her West Philadelphia home, authorities announced yesterday.
Ruby Pettaway helped children cross the street at 53rd and Pine streets near the Samuel B. Huey Elementary School for the past 14 years, a corner only two blocks from the 18th Police District headquarters.
On Thursday, undercover narcotics officers arrested Pettaway, 50, and two others described only as relatives of hers, Herbert Pettaway, 55, and Nadir Pettaway, 20, at their home on 61st Street near Market, police said.
They also arrested a 17-year-old girl from the same neighborhood. A phone message left by the Daily News at the house yesterday was not returned.
Police said they did not believe that Ruby Pettaway, a crossing guard since 1988, was selling drugs to schoolchildren.
Police said the drug activity flowed in and out of her home.
Narcotics investigators found 266 grams of marijuana worth an estimated $2,660 on the street, and also confiscated $1,400 in cash and two guns - a .38 revolver and a .22 rifle, authorities said.
One of Pettaway's neighbors expressed surprise when told of the arrest.
"That's crazy! She wouldn't do anything like that," said a woman who would give only her nickname, Missy, who lives on 61st Street near Chestnut, a couple of blocks from Pettaway's block.
"If there was something found in her house, I don't believe it belonged to her," Missy said.
She added, "Why would she jeopardize her position, her job, as bad as it is for people to get jobs out here?"
Pettaway made $5,348 a year in the part-time job, city records show.
Missy described Pettaway as the neighborhood mother hen.
"She does look out for the children," Missy said.
"She'll tell them to get out of the street, even when she's not at work."
Pettaway and the others arrested were charged with criminal conspiracy, manufacturing drugs with the intent to deliver, drug possession, and possession of an instrument of crime. *
