A fire that started on the back porch of a home in the 100 block Dehaven Avenue in Penndel late Monday afternoon left a family temporarily homeless. Firefighters were dispatched to the home at 4:45 p.m. and arrived to find heavy smoke and fire running up the back exterior of the two-story home, Penndel Fire Marshal James Bampfield and Penndel Fire Company Battalion Chief Gabe Fox said. Bampfield said fire crews made an "aggressive attack" and were able to put the fire under control in about 25 minutes. Flames spread into a portion of the rear kitchen on the first floor of the home, while the …

Margaret Ireland waited at the snowswept corner of Radcliffe Street and Mill Street in Bristol Borough with about 10 other parents and relatives of the teenage victims of Saturday’s charter bus crash in Boston. “I’m just relieved they’re back,” the mother said. “I’ve been sleepless since I found out.” The group waited across the street from the office of the Destined for a Dream Foundation. The organization sponsored the bus trip to New England. Shortly after midnight, a large yellow charter bus arrived and roughly 10 high school-aged students and some adults stepped off the bus and quickly …

A New Jersey man lead Falls Township officers on a pursuit Tuesday morning after they noticed the vehicle he was driving was stolen. George Lewis, 46, of Trenton, N.J., was arrested and charged with receiving stolen property, fleeing and eluding police, recklessly endangering another person and various traffic violations A pursuit started after an officer tried to stop the car on Tyburn Road after realizing it was reported stolen out of Hamilton, N.J., police said. The pursuing officer stated in an affidavit of probable cause that the stolen 2012 Honda Civic began to accelerate toward New …

Sunday, 12:30 p.m.: Police in Massachusetts have identified the driver as 66-year-old Philadelphia resident Samuel J. Jackson. Authorities have not yet released updated information on the conditions of the victims. Sunday, 2:19 a.m.: A tour bus chartered by a Bristol Borough organization struck an overpass in Boston, Mass. Saturday evening. Forty-two students and chaperones were on board the bus when it struck the overpass at 7:34 p.m., according to the Boston Fire Department. The Boston EMS agency reports that 30 people suffered minor injuries. Three were seriously hurt and one person is …

A 12-year-old boy was struck by a car near the intersection of New Falls Road and Veterans Highway (Route 413) in Bristol Township at around 7 p.m. Saturday. The Langhorne teen was trying to cross from New Falls Road from Middletown across to Bristol Township. He was struck as he tried to maneuver between two vehicles in the 4300 block of New Falls Road, Bristol Township Sgt. Sean Cosgrove said. The 12-year-old was taken to St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown and is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, the sergeant said. A 53-year-old Trevose woman driving a 2009 Nissan Murano …

A 35-year-old man was arrested for an incident at Warren Snyder-John Girotti Elementary School in Bristol Borough. Edwin Landman, of Garfield Street, went to the elementary school Tuesday to pick up his daughter, police said. The father became very angry when a school employee asked to see his identification before he could enter the building, according to a police criminal complaint. "What the f--- for?" courts documents quote Landman as saying to the school employee. According to court documents, Landman eventually produced identification and was let into the school. Once inside, he said, "…

Bristol Township police say they have recovered the 1996 gray Oldsmobile Cutlass that was stolen after a knifepoint robbery last week at a laundromat in the 1600 block of Haines Road. Lt. Terry Hughes said the vehicle was recovered across the Delaware River in Trenton, N.J. on Thursday. Detectives are expected to test the car for prints and search it for evidence, Hughes said. The car was taken by a two people last Friday night after a knifepoint robbery outside a laundromat. No one was hurt, but the victim lost cash, car keys and a cell phone, police said. Mario Bianchi, 35, and his fiance …

Bristol Township police are looking for two black men wanted for an armed home invasion that happened last Friday night in the Indian Creek section of the community. The suspects walked in the unlocked front door at 11:30 p.m. and held up the homeowner and stole money, Lt. Terry Hughes said. No injuries were reported. Hughes said the home invasion is not believed to be a random incident and detectives are still investigating. Police, citing the ongoing investigation, did not release a detailed description of the suspects and failed to identify the exact street where the home invasion was …

An armed robbery at the Dollar General on Route 13 and police activity around Cleveland Street made for an interesting evening in Bristol Borough on Thursday. According to emergency radio reports and a county dispatch official, police were summoned to the Dollar General along Route 13 (Bristol Pike) at around 5 p.m. for reports of an armed robbery. An alert from the Breaking News Network, a service that monitors police radio transmissions, reported the robbery suspect was a "stocky white male" armed with a handgun. The suspect made away with $100 in cash, PhillyBurbs.com reported. Local …

A man with a handgun tried to rob the Burger King at Route 13 and Beaver Dam Road in Bristol Borough at 9:40 p.m. Wednesday. According to Investigations Sgt. Randy Morris, a man entered the fast food joint and jumped the counter. Once behind the counter, he pulled a handgun and confronted the manager about the store's money. The suspect appeared to get "spooked" and ran from the restaurant, Morris said. No customers were in the store and no employees were hurt, police said. Officers from the borough and township responded and searched the woods behind the Burger King, Morris told Patch. He …

A black handgun, duct tape, screwdrivers and a pair of tan work gloves were discovered by police when they stopped to question a man who claimed he was waiting for a friend in Levittown’s Violetwood section before dawn on Monday. A Bristol Township patrol officer spotted Joseph Piazza, 33, of Vista Road, kneeling down, remaining still in front of a parked truck in the driveway of a home in the 100 block of Violetwood Drive, according to an affidavit of probable cause. The officer shined a car-mounted spotlight in the area. Piazza then walk down the driveway and told the patrolman he was …

A Falls Township couple accused of knifepoint and gunpoint robberies are behind bars and facing serious charges. Mario Bianchi, 35, and his fiance Katherine Swaim, 27, both of Makefield Road, were arrested on Monday in connection with two robberies that police allege they were involved in. According to a criminal complaint, Falls officers responded on Sunday to the Wells Fargo Bank branch on Trenton Road in Fairless Hills for reports of an attempted robbery just minutes after midnight. The victim told police she was approached by a female suspect from behind and held up at gunpoint as she was…

A ceremony was held Tuesday evening at the Middletown Township Municipal Complex to mark the anniversary of Detective Christopher Jones' passing. Jones died on Jan. 29, 2009 when he was struck  by a drunk driver while conducting a traffic stop just off of the I-95 interchange on Route 1. Jones, who left behind his wife and three children, was posthumously promoted to the rank of detective by the community where he worked for a decade. In his honor, the Detective Christopher Jones Foundation raises funds to help the community and also awards scholarships to high school graduates. The …

An early morning fire that struck a home in the 2300 block of Bloomsdale was likely caused by a space heater, fire investigators said. Firefighters were dispatched to Bloomsdale after a passing motorist reported the home was ablaze, Fire Marshal Kevin Dippolito told Patch. Crews arrived to find flames coming from the bedroom, according to reports. The home was unoccupied at the time of the blaze, Dippolito said. He added that the home did not have working heat and the residents were staying with friends or family before the fire struck. According to Edgely Fire Company Deputy Chief Brian …

A alleged wild night led to shots being fired over the weekend in Levittown. Francis Zydzik, 56, of Circle Road in the Levittown section of Middletown, is charged with felony aggravated assault charges and several misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment and simple assault, according to a docket sheet. The incident is alleged to have started Saturday at about 10 p.m. with a son picking his intoxicated father up from bar and ended with three shots fired at from a handgun. Zydzik’s son picked his father up at Miller’s Ale House on East Lincoln Highway Saturday evening. His father was out …

Police in Montgomery County are seeking the public's help in identifying a woman who they say was caught on video surveillance in Lower Bucks County on several occasions using a credit card that had been stolen earlier this month during an armed robbery. The white female, who appears to be wearing glasses in an image shared by Horsham Township police, allegedly used the stolen credit card at a number of businesses and a bank in the areas of Bensalem, Bristol, Croydon and Morrisville. It is not clear if the woman was involved in the alleged armed robbery, which police said resulted in the …

A woman had her car stolen after she was held up at knifepoint Friday night in a Bristol Township laundromat. According to police, the victim was doing wash at the laundromat in the 1600 block of Haines Road when a slender white woman approached her and asked to borrow her cell phone so she could call for a taxi. The unsuspecting victim offered to dial the number for the woman, who then pulled a paring knife and robbed her.  The suspect got away with the phone, $15 in cash and the victim's car keys, Lt. Terry Hughes said. When the victim looked outside, she saw the suspect get into her 1996 …

Warning: The following story contains graphic descriptions of sexual acts. A 34-year-old Falls Township man is accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl that was friends with his daughter and a player on a softball team he coached. Kevin Jones of Fairless Hills was arrested on charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a minor, aggravated assault on a minor, statutory sexual assault, indecent assault, corruption of minors and unlawful contact with a minor. He is currently being held on $2 million bail, Lt. Hank Ward said. Jones coached for the Levittown American and …

Investigators in Philadelphia will run DNA samples taken from alleged murderer and Levittown resident Jason Smith through a national crime database, police said. NBC10 reports that police are comparing Smith’s DNA to that of the Fairmount Park Rapist and samples gathered after several sexual assaults near Pennypack Park in Northeast Philadelphia. City police say the suspect in the Fairmount Park is connected to at least three violent sexual assault cases. All the crimes happened between 2003 and 2007. One of the cases includes the 2003 murder 30-year-old Rebecca Park, a medical student, whose…

Prior to his arrest on charges of murder last week, Levittown pest exterminator Jason Smith had a relatively clean criminal record. However, several people close to the 36-year-old father said he had a somewhat troubled past. A former friend of Smith’s who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Patch that the Crabtree section resident could have a temper, but murder was not something he felt his old friend was capable of. Smith's fiance, who shared the two-story Crabtree section house with him, her young daughter and other family members, told 6abc the whole family is upset and knew nothing…