Counselor's purse stolen during CPR assist at Philadelphia school
Police are asking the public's help in identifying a suspect who allegedly stole a school counselor's purse while she was assisting in a medical emergency.
The incident happened around 4:22 p.m. on January 6 at the Ad Prima Charter School on the 3500 block of Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia's Port Richmond neighborhood.
A student was having a medical emergency around dismissal time when the 32-year-old female counselor stopped to help with CPR.
Police say she placed her purse on the stairwell inside the school. But when she went to retrieve it approximately a half an hour later, the purse was missing.
Afterwards, school officials checked surveillance video. In the video you can see the man enter the school through an open door around 4:20 pm. He then walks up a stairwell where the counselor left her belongings as she was helping that girl.
The suspect then picks up the handbag and continues up the stairs. Two minutes later, he comes back down the stairs without the purse, leaving the building.
School officials say the purse was later found in a classroom with IDs and credit cards gone.
One of those parents, Noemi Carrion, tells Action News, "It's very scary. Because you put your children into a charter school thinking they're safe and then someone just walked into the building."
School CEO Aldo Cavalli says, "It was at the end of dismissal, and we had just finished up dismissing the children. We had opened the doors to let a group of parents in who were here for our first PTO meeting and at that time the individual took advantage of that and slipped into the building."
If you see the man, police say don't approach him. Instead, you should call 911.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the East Detective Division 215-686-3243/3244.
The school CEO says for the next PTO meeting, IDs will be checked at the door so something like this doesn't happen again. As for the child, school officials say after a trip to the emergency room she was fine.
