N. Phila. man booked for masturbating outside Girls' High

A REPEAT SEX offender was yanked off the street by police this weekend for allegedly exposing himself and masturbating in front of Philadelphia High School for Girls on several occasions recently, authorities said yesterday.

Samuel Hart, 45, of North Philadelphia, is charged with three counts each of unlawful contact with a minor/sexual offenses, corruption of minors, indecent exposure, open lewdness and harassment in a March 25 incident outside the school at Broad Street and Olney Avenue in Logan.

Hart was arrested Friday at his apartment on Berks Street near 19th. He was being held yesterday at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Court records show that Hart has had more than 15 prior arrests for similar charges since 1992, but he was not handed stiff penalties for the repeated acts. He served hard time once, when sentenced in 2007 to six to 12 months in jail and a year of probation for lewdness and indecent exposure, records show.

For several other convictions, records show, Hart was sentenced to probation. He has been a registered sex offender since 2007 for unlawful contact with a minor, according to the state Megan's Law registry. He beat similar charges in 2002 and 2004.

At the time of his most recent arrest, Hart was on probation for a 2012 indecent-exposure conviction. He is scheduled to appear in Family Court on May 28.

- Morgan Zalot