Man charged in car thefts at airport pleads guilty
A Grays Ferry man - arrested in June and charged with stealing five new SUVs from a Philadelphia International Airport rental-vehicle lot - has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to 21/2 to 5 years in prison.
Kenneth "Benjamin" Copeland, 44, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court to receiving stolen property. In addition to the prison term, Judge Leon W. Tucker sentenced Copeland to a year's probation.
Copeland, who lost his right leg 10 years ago when his then-girlfriend's ex-husband blasted him with a shotgun, was arrested June 5 after an investigation that began May 9 with the theft of a 2008 Ford Expedition.
A surveillance camera at the Budget and Avis Rental outlets on Arrival Road showed a one-legged man entering the lot and driving off with the vehicle. Police set up surveillance and said they followed Copeland to his house in the 1600 block of South Napa Street. He was arrested after getting into an SUV reported stolen two days earlier.
- Joseph A. Slobodzian