Why did the Philadelphia district attorney send a letter to her at her old address?

She hadn't lived there in 12 years.

"What'd you do?" asked the friend who still lived there who told her about it.

"I didn't do nothing," said Muse, 66, a machine operator at Nabisco with a long work history - and no criminal record.

When Muse opened the letter, she was even more surprised.

It was a subpoena ordering her to appear in court in the case of the Commonwealth v. John Parker.

Parker, 45, had stolen cash from Muse's pocket and was arrested on theft charges.

Fifteen years ago.

"When I opened it up, it shocked me to no end," Muse said.

Muse, a grandmother, had long since chalked the robbery up to living in a big city, where there are more urgent priorities than the crime against her.

And when she found out that the subpoena required she be in court three days later, she balked.

She had a doctor's appointment that day for various ailments. And she intended to keep it.

"I said you can't give nobody three days when they haven't heard from you in 15 years and expect them to appear," Muse told the assistant D.A. on the case.

"He said the judge wasn't going to like it. I said, 'Tell the judge I didn't like the way I was treated for 15 years.' "

It was then, she said, the D.A. suggested - albeit gently - he could issue a bench warrant for her.

"I said, 'If that's what you have to do, come get me,' " she said with a chuckle.

Muse was unpacking groceries from her car at Germantown Avenue and Hortter Street that long-ago day when she felt "this push and pull in my pocket."

A man she recognized from the neighborhood grabbed the cash she had in there, and ran.

John Parker was arrested, had a preliminary hearing - and disappeared. A bench warrant was issued on April 5, 1993.

Parker moved to Maryland, according to public records, but apparently still has family in Philadelphia. I tried several phone numbers for him, but couldn't reach him.

On Jan. 16, police stopped Parker's car at 16th and Diamond streets for a suspended car registration.

Police checked the database and arrested him on the bench warrant.

The long delay between warrant and arrest is "not the norm, but it doesn't surprise me," said Assistant D.A. Jodi Lobel, chief of the felony-waiver unit.

"We never give up."

"It's not uncommon for people to be arrested on bench warrants that are over 20 years old," said Thomas Press, head of the court's warrant unit.

Press said the statute of limitations doesn't apply because the "the defendant is already formally charged for the offense and the court process has begun."

What is unusual is how easily the D.A.'s office found the victim in this case, Ruth Muse.

"Usually," said Lobel, "we have to start researching and we have witnesses move, they pass away, they change names, get married, get divorced.

"Sometimes it's very difficult and sometimes it's impossible, and if it's impossible, the defendant gets away with the crime."

Not in this case, though.

Although Muse didn't show up for the hearing, Parker pleaded guilty on Feb. 4 in return for two years' probation. He has another adult conviction, in Maryland, for distributing fake CDs, according to the D.A.'s office.

Muse got the good news from Assistant D.A. Matt Glazer, who also told her that Common Pleas Judge Leslie Fleisher ordered Parker to pay $170 restitution - after calculating 15 years of interest on the $100 Parker stole.

"Justice took a long time in this case, but I think the result was right," Glazer said.

But you'll forgive Ruth Muse if she's just a little skeptical about getting her money.

"I don't think so," she said when asked if she thought she'd get it.

"I really don't think so."

Still, it's nice to know that the criminal-justice system never gives up on a case.

"It's very satisfying when so much time passes, "Lobel said, "and you can still bring someone to justice." *

E-mail porterj@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5850. For recent columns:

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