Phony utility workers steal from S. Philly homes

Phony utility workers steal from S. Philly homes

* 15th Street near Moore, and Ritner Street near 3rd

A group of people posing as Peco maintenance workers visited two houses last week saying that they needed to check for faulty electrical outlets.

Police said $1,000 in cash, jewelry and personal checks were reported stolen after the crooks left on Thursday and Saturday.

A man cased a house on 15th Street on Thursday, and two days later a different man visited, saying he was there to work on the faulty outlets that his co-worker found. The man stole jewelry and personal checks from a bedroom, police said.

A pair of Peco posers visited a house on Ritner Street with the same story on Thursday and stole $1,000 in cash, police said.

Police urge residents to ask people claiming to work for a utility company for identification before allowing them into their homes. Peco workers are required to carry a photo-ID badge and wear a navy-blue or orange shirt with a Peco logo on it, police said.

'Good Samaritan' slaying suspect arrested

* 5th Street and Glenwood

Avenue

A teenager who police say shot and killed a Good Samaritan who intervened in a holdup at a North Philly corner store last month was arrested Tuesday for his involvement in the crime, police said.

Cops had been on the hunt for Angel Nieves, 18, of Schiller Street near H in Kensington, since the March 18 gunpoint robbery of La Familia Latina Mini Market. Rafael Del Valle, 26, of Bancroft Street near Huntingdon, was fatally shot on the street after the robbery as he attempted to chase down the masked robber.

Cops arrested the first alleged robber, Edward Friedland, 26, of 15th Street near Venango in Tioga, when he showed up at the hospital with a gunshot wound shortly after the ordeal. Police said that store owner Antonio Monegro, 35, pulled his own gun after Friedland announced a robbery, and the two shot each other.

Police said that after both Monegro and Friedland were shot, Del Valle picked up Monegro's gun and chased Friedland up 5th Street. Nieves then picked up the gun Friedland had discarded and ran after Del Valle, shooting him several times in the back before standing over his body on the street and firing a bullet into his head, police said.

Friedland was charged with offenses including attempted murder, robbery and aggravated assault. Nieves is facing charges of murder, criminal conspiracy, robbery and related offenses in Del Valle's killing.

- Phillip Lucas and Morgan Zalot