Not a burglar, she was just a naked lady

Henry Louis Gates Jr. she was not.

Dressed in white fishnet stockings - and nothing else - a Delaware County woman who police say was drunk and who repeatedly threw herself at the front door of a locked Ridley Park home brought them to the scene last week when neighbors believed she was trying to burgle the residence.

As it turned out, the woman, Sherry McNeal, 47, of Chester, was a guest at the house of John Litwin, 48, of Pomeroy Street near Kenny.

Litwin also was drunk, police said, when he finally came to the door, though he was clothed.

"Neither [McNeal nor Litwin] had any idea how the naked female got outside," Ridley Park Police Chief Tom Byrne said.

Officers responded to reports of a burglary about 12:20 a.m. on July 29 and heard kicking sounds on a nearby door.

McNeal was launching her body against Litwin's door, claiming to be locked out of the home, police said.

Litwin, who allegedly heard officers knock but not McNeal's full body slams, emerged from the house, also inebriated, Byrne said.

McNeal and Litwin said they had no idea how she had gotten out of the house, barely clothed, or how she had been locked out, police said.

"Both subjects were cited for disorderly conduct and advised to stay in for the night," Byrne said.

Gates was arrested in his Cambridge, Mass., home last month after someone called police to report a possible burglary in progress.