A royal brush for 'Bonnie'

HIS ROYAL Highness the prince of Wales listened attentively to his fellow panelist, a well-spoken Drexel University student, as she discussed economics and globalization.

Philadelphia's best and brightest university students participated on the small, invitation-only panel last year at International House Philadelphia to discuss with Prince Charles "The Future of Mega Cities in the Developing World."

Students were not to raise their hands, but were told instead to take their respective name cards and place them in a vertical position. Jocelyn Kirsch had done just that.

Seated to the left of Prince Charles, the international- area-studies major - now under suspension by the university for alleged identity theft - leaned into the microphone in front of her on the table and looked slightly to her right at Britain's heir apparent, according to photographs seen by the Daily News.

When she spoke, Kirsch, then 21, and wearing a dark pinstriped jacket, gestured with her hands as she addressed the prince.

"We're developing communities that do not have the markets to sustain that kind of flood of money," said Kirsch, referring to her concern of increased "international financing" in cities such as Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

"So as the market stagnates, it kind of stratifies this schism we have between rich and poor and those who are developing and those who are working," Kirsch added, according to a transcript of the panel. It was provided by the International House, a nonprofit center at 37th and Chestnut streets that houses scholars, students and interns from throughout the world.

Thus, with a sip of the specially brewed tea made for the International House royal reception and with her inclusion in such an exclusive event - thanks to a Drexel recommendation - Jocelyn Kirsch has inadvertently added another riveting element to her onion-layered story.

The brainy brunette and her codefendant, Edward Anderton, 25, are charged with conspiracy, identity theft, burglary, terroristic threats, unlawful use of a computer and other crimes. A preliminary hearing that was scheduled for Tuesday for them has been postponed.

Cops say the couple stole identities of at least two of their neighbors at the Belgravia, on Chestnut Street near 18th, and of at least three others. The two are also believed to have scammed local businesses by using fake credit cards and forged checks in their victims' names.

Cops believe that the money was used to fund their lavish lifestyle, including trips to Hawaii and Paris.

The interstate commerce believed to have taken place in the alleged $100,000 scam also put their crimes on the feds' radar.

Anderton and Kirsch have been questioned by federal investigators, sources familiar with the case said last week. Local charges are expected to be dropped and then federal ones would apply, they added.

Kirsch's gripping yet unfounded stories of U.S. Olympic pole-vaulting experience, of special Lithuanian genes that accounted for violet eyes, of an impoverished upbringing in Lithuania, have enticed Daily News readers into the so-called "Bonnie and Clyde" story. Now, the revelation that she met the future king of England, once married to Princess Diana, and discussed urban development with the royal, takes Kirsch's story to a new level.

And this time it's documented.

Of the 14 students asked to participate in the event on Jan. 27, 2007, 10 were International House residents, said Oliver St. Clair Franklin, chief executive of International House. And of those remaining four, Kirsch and another Drexel student were recommended by their professor, Julie Mostov, now an associate vice provost for international programs, said a student in attendance, who requested anonymity. The other two students were recommended by Penn.

In an e-mail response sent yesterday after a Daily News query, Mostov wrote of Jocelyn, "I had no hesitation proposing her based upon her work as a student in international-area studies and as I heard from those present, she did an excellent job as a panelist.

"Beyond that, I don't think that it's appropriate for professors to talk about Jocelyn to the press," said Mostov, who cited student privacy laws.

One student concurred with Mostov's feedback.

"I thought she was well-spoken," said the history/politics major, who attended the panel discussion. "Some people think she doesn't know what she's talking about. I don't know about economics, but it seems like she knew what she was saying."

Many of the invited students "froze" once the prince walked into the room.

"She was definitely one of those people who was raising her placard," the student said.

"I was impressed with her poise and how well she was spoken," the student said.

Although the student occasionally saw Kirsch later in University City, they weren't close.

"We didn't really talk that much. She was very pleasant to me. Maybe a little overly pleasant," the student said, referring to invitations extended by Kirsch including one to her and Anderton's housewarming party.

The student was unable to attend.

One former friend who did attend the September housewarming said she did not recall seeing Belgravia neighbors at the party.

But one neighbor victim, according to an affidavit of probable cause, did meet both briefly when he moved in. And items of the victim's confidential information was found in Anderton's and Kirsch's $3,000-a-month apartment, police said.

When cops searched unit 305, they found keys to 45 apartments and all the building's mailboxes in addition to an "industrial . . . card printer, that is used to make corporate identification for employees," according to the affidavit. They also found close to $18,000 in cash.

Kirsch and Anderton purchased items using the name of a neighbor who lived a few doors from them. This victim moved into the Belgravia on Oct. 1, and by Oct. 19, the duo already had opened a mailbox in her name at a UPS store on Spruce Street near 37th, police said.

One woman who allegedly was victimized by the couple, Jennifer Bisicchia, will testify against the globetrotting pair, she said yesterday.

Bisicchia and her employer, Giovanni and Pileggi Salon, have hired a lawyer to get back the money the couple allegedly scammed from both.

"We want to make sure we get what we deserve," Bisicchia said. *