Unholy night: 'Whacked out' couple crashes midnight Mass
A couple of unholy, intoxicated church goers - high on booze and drugs - crashed a midnight Mass in Drexel Hill on Christmas when they stumbled down the aisle, fondled each other in a pew and flushed drugs down the church toilet, police said.
Unholy night: 'Whacked out' couple crashes midnight Mass
Stephanie Farr
A couple of unholy, intoxicated church goers - high on booze and drugs - crashed a midnight Mass in Drexel Hill on Christmas when they stumbled down the aisle, fondled each other in a pew and flushed drugs down the church toilet, police said.
Authorities believe Alexander Pirone, 21, and Catherine McGrath, 24, planned to hide out in the restroom until after the building was locked up for the night so they could burglarize the church, but a cop and an EMT who were also at the Mass thwarted their plan, said police Superintendent Michael Chitwood.
Pirone and McGrath burst into St. Charles Borromeo Roman Catholic Church on Burmont Road and stumbled down the aisle shortly after midnight Mass began on Dec. 25, police said. Officer Samuel Sproull, who was on duty at the time and attending the Mass, saw them come in and saw that they were "whacked out," Chitwood said.
"At one point in time, they were fondling one another in the pew to the point where a couple of the church goers had to tell them to stop acting like morons," Chitwood said. "They had to tell them that they were there to worship and pray and stop making a spectacle of themselves."
When the Mass was over, Sproull decided to wait for the couple outside of the church, but they never came out, Chitwood said. As the priest was about to lock up the church for the night, an EMT worker who also attended the Mass told Sproull that he'd seen the couple go downstairs and never come up, police said.
Sproull went downstairs and found Pirone sitting on the steps and McGrath locked in the bathroom, flushing the toilet, Chitwood said. When he was able to get the restroom door open, Sproull found four glassine bags in the toilet that are typically used to hold heroin, Chitwood said. A search of McGrath turned up a plastic vial with several bags of heroin in it as well as 43 pills, he said. Sproull also found numerous dangerous pills and narcotics on Pirone, Chitwood said. Both Pirone, of Clifton Heights, and McGrath, of Springfield, smelled of alcohol at the time too, according to police.
McGrath and Pirone, both of whom have a history of drug offenses, were arrested and charged with narcotics violations and public drunkenness, police said. They remain in prison in lieu of $30,000 and $20,000 bail, respectively, police said.
"They were looking for a problem," Chitwood said. "Well, both are still in jail so Merry Christmas to them."
Comments (71)
nice little nugget that the cop was on duty and attending mass at the same time - your tax dollars at work- Police are allowed to take breaks just like people of every other occupation. If the story was about a police officer at a diner eating or a convenience store buying a snapple while on duty you would not find that odd. If a man chooses to spend his break at church instead of a donut shop then let it be. Obviously God had a plan. — SPhilly07
- My guess is it was a typo and the officer was probably off duty, or on break. Besides, cops are on duty 24-7. They never stop. They are not supposed to. By the way, I find your name compelling. If you are what your screen-name implies and you would choose to use that to announce to the world what is important to you then I'd say your opinion doesnt count for much. You should spend a few cozy nights with Catherine and Alexander. You are peas in a pod. — OldSouthPhilly
- If a police officer wants to use his dinner break to attend a religous service, and has informed his supervisor and received permission to do so, and remains in the geographic region of his department, I don't see why you (DFA) object. In this case, the officer's presence resulted in two alleged felons being taken off of the streets thereby protecting and serving the public good. Some people need to grow up and (DFA) is one of them. — MrGBojangles
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- yeah, I've noticed in more than a few articles, there are one or more mis-spelled words. No wonder papers are closed all over the country if this is typical.
- DogfightingAficionado, amazing that your take from this story is that
a cop "wasted" an hour of taxpayers money attending Mass. Oh, by the way, he prevented a crime. I suspect, though, that robbing a church doesn't rank very high on your standards. Based on your name, I shouldn't have bothered responding.— Mandela - But you just couldn't help yourself....typical — sphillybrian
- God bless our men & women in blue...especially those with a religious bent...— TomTheCork
- guess what, cops have lives. No cop sits in his/her squad car all shift long if there are no crimes being committed..— palmyra21
- Given that the story is several days old, I suspect the author should have had time to do a little proofreading to catch, in addition to "vile," the following:
"When the mass over" - 5th graph
"several bags of heroine" - 6th graph— Pa Reader - The section reading "plastic vile with several bags of heroine" is either awful editing or interesting poetry. Also, Tom, non-religious cops are somehow less deserving of praise? Wow.— Cromulents
I have no problem with an on duty officer attending mass in Drexel Hill, its not like the city where crime is out of control, the city will have more crime in 2 days than Drexel Hill will have all year. These 2 junkies should stay in prison for a while to sober up and get a real life.- the guy looks like a mix of Screech & Shaggy....the home boys will like him in prison. The girl is just a strung-out junkie...I'm sure she was good looking before the drugs got hold of her. Really glad these two are off the streets.— jerseyjohn
Off the streets? Yeah for a day or two.— The Monk- Don't jump to the conclusion that the officer did anything wrong by attending mass while on duty. They do get a lunch hour. Newsflash for Tom: Not all officers and religious people are good people.— MikeP
- MikeP, Thanks for the newsflash...(sarcasm alert)obvious statements having nothing to do with the subject at hand often add to the quality of a discussion. — TomTheCork
Comment removed.- Yeah, the cops are assigned to church to prevent the kid of terroristic threat made on synagogues all the time. But aside from the glaring errors in spelling, this articles has not been proofread by a copy editor, hence the several instances where words should have been cut and phrases consolidates. First, the building is not "locked up" but "locked." Get rid of the "up"; you sound like a cop. Next, you don't "hide out," you "hide." These are important copy editing distinctions. Next a cop and EMT "who were also at" should be shortened to "also at"...the who where is superfluous. Next, "as the priest was about to lock up the church for the night" shortens to "as the priest locked the church"....for the night is wordy....the whole story can be cut in half and we still get the point.— frinkie
- Actually, none of your "corrections" are necessary. You might try to argue on the grounds of concision (not grammatical correctness) that getting rid of the particle in a phrasal verb ("lock up," "hide out") is a good idea when the remaining verb still works ("lock," "hide"), but if you want to pay attention to the nuances of language, you will have to admit that "lock up" and "lock," and "hide out" and "hide" are not identical in meaning or use. — Bartleby
Omg...good lord....that lady is the biggest train wreck ever to be on the pages of the daily news. She would be a great contestant for that Makeover tv show...— The Philly Shadow- the picture of the chick is hilarious!!!!!! they had a merry christmas withdrawing in their jail cells— Howie FelterSnatch
- So let me get this straight....kid touching is ok, showing up to church drunk isn't?— sphillybrian
- Cromulents..."non-religious cops are somehow less deserving of praise?"...your words not mine. I wished God's blessings on all cops...especially the religious...it seems to me that the non-religious wouldn't really value the blessing (that was nonetheless offered)...— TomTheCork
- uh...shouldn't it be "wacked" out?— catharine_christian_carpenter
very sad... two morons who will most likely lead a life of disappointment!— dexter55- I am pretty sure they were a disappointment long before this incident.... — sphillybrian
- Good work by the officer. They look like Screech (maybe crossed with pee wee herman) and Tonya Harding. Chitwood does like his press. Problem is alot of these little chestnuts he doles out to the press with the special mugshots are, how do we say it nicely, overpolished. The idea is law enforcement not info-tainment. Priorities get scrambled sometimes.— Tkat
Awwww.....they're in love!- I wouldn't put them in jail - I'd make them clean up graffiti and general waste/trash in parts of the city that are known as popular "drug hangouts" - putting people in jail only costs us more money and gives us nothing in return— PhillyExcitement
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- If you are trying to make some sort of church and state argument you have a long way to go pal. Police Officers are allowed to take breaks (within reason) anywhere they'd like. If your home is in your district you can stop by for dinner and the same holds true for church. As long as you answer your radio if needed then you are well within your rights as governed by your contract. — sphillybrian
- so you think he had his radio squaking during the mass? cops are supposed to make themselves seen at high crime areas to deter crime...spending 90 minutes at a church mass does not seem like a "break" also where is the proof that the couple were going to burglarize the building? if they were "whacked out" on drugs how did they formulate the plan? seems to me they were just wasted and didnt know what was going on but john law came up with some things to charge them with besides public intoxication and possession. face it the cop was worshiping his god on the public dime....if a muslim cop was doing the same thing all heck would break loose. — mc62strat
- so you think he had his radio squaking during the mass? cops are supposed to make themselves seen at high crime areas to deter crime...spending 90 minutes at a church mass does not seem like a "break" also where is the proof that the couple were going to burglarize the building? if they were "whacked out" on drugs how did they formulate the plan? seems to me they were just wasted and didnt know what was going on but john law came up with some things to charge them with besides public intoxication and possession. face it the cop was worshiping his god on the public dime....if a muslim cop was doing the same thing all heck would break loose. — mc62strat
- so you think he had his radio squaking during the mass? cops are supposed to make themselves seen at high crime areas to deter crime...spending 90 minutes at a church mass does not seem like a "break" also where is the proof that the couple were going to burglarize the building? if they were "whacked out" on drugs how did they formulate the plan? seems to me they were just wasted and didnt know what was going on but john law came up with some things to charge them with besides public intoxication and possession. face it the cop was worshiping his god on the public dime....if a muslim cop was doing the same thing all heck would break loose. — mc62strat
- What is your point? Perhaps posting it a few dozen more times will make it clearer... — poguemahone
- I like stories that end with young people in jail - where they belong.— dr.anonymous,md
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- I wish they still had midnight mass at other churches.— HandNik
- Dude's picture isn't so bad for a mugshot, but her's is like a trainwreck. By the way who says they were going to rob the place. No evidence of that if anything they probably went downstairs to do the deed. I wonder if they even knew where they were.— Breaking Bad
- Comment removed.
I'd say they should be punished by caring for elderly and shut ins, like many churches do, but I have a feeling they would just clean them out.
tough paper route...- Oooooh she's a looker! If this was "God's plan" I hope it also has something to do with rehabilitation, retribution and forgiveness. If not, like most other "Christians" I've dealt with and have seen in the media lately (ahem - Tucker Carlson), it'll be just another hate story...and ironic that it occurred in a church on Jesus' birthday. If anyone is preaching forgiveness it should be the ones who witnessed these two morons at their best. Rehab, baby!!!!— dr.elektrika
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- White, suburban, conservative trash gets locked up in church. I see they were raised in a typical white, suburban household. It's also typical how white, suburban, conservative trash defend their fellow trash by trying to deflect criticism to a cop who goes to church on his break and a spelling error. How about the white, suburban, conservative community standing up for once and say "We have a huge issue that needs to be addressed. Things need to change."— John Fante
- Because most of them are too busy to deal with these pieces of trash....busy, you know...working and paying taxes. — mt71985
- Looks to me like too many white, suburban conservatives spend their time defending fellow white trash on Internet message boards, scanning for spelling errors, and crying about the itty-bitty amount of taxes they pay, while sponging off the government for everything they have and blaming others for their own failed lives and inability to raise their children properly. — John Fante
- Maybe it will all work out for them. Maybe it'll be a christmas miracle.
- Wow, that woman looks like she is 55, not 24.— delco_guy
- Obviously we need cops at church.— RichardsCaptain08
- Wow. Guess Jesus would be really upset too if someone broke into his palace to steal his gold chalices and gold gilded robes and golden candelabras......Oh wait. The sheer idiocy and unmitigated hypocrisy of this church business-enterprise is astounding.— CiceroSpuriousDeodatus
- White trash at midnight mass. Not on Mike Chitwood's watch, lock 'em up, the best rehab there is. Awful article, ink, edit much?— PhillySubsMac
- their parents must be beaming with pride— amanda718
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- Those two are P-I-G pigs. Riff S. Raff. She would do you for a nickel (five cents not bag).— PhillySubsMac
- Thanks folks for a happy ending to what could have been a terrible event. Druggies can be very violent.— Peter of Manassas
- Can we get a definition of fondling?— The Selector
- Bonnie and Fried.— deanwermer
- Nice young Catholic couple!!!!!!— quigly46
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- Maybe the church hired the policeman as a crossing guard, or perhaps he was there for security and/or safety (after all, it was midnight). Sometimes, I think we scrutinize things a little too much. Just glad he and the EMT were there to get these two. Obviously, they need help if they have such a lack of respect for a church--especially on Christmas Eve. However, glad they're in jail--that's where they belong!— 3rick
- Be kind. It's Christmas break and very few people are doing the work of many. Also, I would say the senior-most staff is probably all on vacation. Give some slack to the little guys.— OldSouthPhilly
- I'm with you, doc.— OldSouthPhilly
- I see both sides to this...on one hand the cop did an outstanding public service by taking care of these thugs, but, ask yourself "what if I stopped work n the middle of work to go to church?" how many of us would still have a job? Lol— KannonWithaK
- Congrats everyone! Your ignorance has blow me away yet again. Just to inform you all I know Catherine personally and grew up with her as a kid. And it just so happens that she has been going to the midnight mass at the same church since she was a little girl. I know that she had no bad intentions and you should all know how bad of a job the papers do of getting the story right without slandering the persons reputation. Why dont you all read the article again because there were no facts about them stealing it was all accusations because they have a drug problem. And just to remind everyone nobody wakes up one day and decides they want to become drug addicts. Let he without sin cast the first stone. I hope God forgives all of you for being so hateful.— beaglelover212
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- I think we saw this couple pull the same act at the World Cafe Live Marah Christmas concert on Sunday, Dec. 19th.— gersey
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- Chitwood is on the ball--HAPPY NEW YEARS TO ALL— citizen usa
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