Dwight Dixon

Dwight Dixon, the local guy who claimed that he had been shot in the hand last year by NFL star Marvin Harrison, died on Friday.
Dixon, 33, never regained consciousness after he was riddled with seven bullets in Fairmount on July 21. That case remains unsolved, while charges were never filed in last year’s shooting.
A police source said that Dixon died Friday at 3:17 a.m. at Hahnemann University Hospital from “multiple injuries” caused by the gunshot wounds.
His death adds a sad twist to a story that generated national headlines and was marred by a seemingly endless array of contradictions.
“It’s a shame. My heart goes out to his family,” said attorney Robert Gamburg, who represented Dixon in a civil lawsuit that was filed against Harrison last fall.
“He was a good man. I know he’ll be missed by his family and friends.
“He was a very honest person who made some mistakes in his life and was in the process of moving on until he got caught up in something he didn’t want to be caught up in,” Gamburg said.
Dixon, who grew up with Harrison in North Philadelphia, claimed that the former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver shot him after the two had a fistfight on Thompson Street near 25th, in North Philadelphia, on April 28, 2008.
Another man, Robert Nixon, claimed that he had also been wounded trying to flee the scene. Nixon filed a civil suit against Harrison earlier this summer.
Ballistics evidence proved that at least five shots had been fired that night from a Belgian-made handgun that Harrison owns.
Despite the evidence — and Harrison’s admission to police that he was involved in the fistfight — District Attorney Lynne Abraham decided earlier this year not to press charges against Harrison.
She said that Harrison, Dixon, Nixon and others provided investigators with multiple false and contradictory statements about the incident.
Dixon was charged with making false reports to police and other offenses and was scheduled to appear in court today, according to court records.
Abraham, meanwhile, didn’t rule out bringing charges against Harrison down the road, pending the results of his civil suit.
Dixon told the Daily News in January that he initially lied to police about being shot by Harrison, “because I was scared for my life and for my family. I was worried. [Harrison] is well-connected, he has money and he has fame.”
Gamburg said yesterday that he is unsure if he will still follow through with the civil lawsuit against Harrison.
“We’re going to weigh our options,” he said. “His death certainly leaves a lot up to speculation.”
Dixon was gunned down in front of a Valu-Plus on Girard Avenue near 28th Street on July 21. The shooting occurred two blocks north of Playmakers, a club owned by Harrison.
A police source previously told the Daily News that Dixon told a police officer who responded to the shooting that he believed the gunman had been hired by Harrison.
Harrison’s attorney, Jerome Brown, declined to comment about the allegations at the time.
 

A career criminal who has a fondness for flashing his privates in public is once again behind bars — thanks, in part, to vigilant Daily News readers.
John Cannizzaro, 49, was arrested by U.S. marshals about 4 p.m. today in East Frankford, authorities said.
He had been sought by marshals and Philadelphia police for exposing himself to four 12-year-old girls in South Philly on May 12, said Jim Burke, supervisor of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force.
Cannizzaro was also wanted for dodging meetings with his state parole agent, Burke said. He had been on parole since 2007, after serving four years of a sentence for indecent exposure.
“To give you an idea of the person we’re dealing with, out of the last 11 years, he’s spent nine years in state prison,” Burke said.
Detectives were anxious to get Cannizzaro off the streets because they feared he would strike again after he allegedly exposed himself on May 12.
“You hear about incidents like this, and you have to assume he’ll escalate into something much worse,” Burke said.
Turns out the authorities weren’t the only ones who wanted to see Cannizzaro behind bars.
Daily News readers flooded investigators with information on Cannizzaro after his photo ran in a “Week’s Most Wanted” column in the Aug. 31 edition of the People Paper.
“They contributed numerous tips which helped lead to his apprehension,” Burke noted.
Cannizzaro, whose last known address was on 4th Street near Snyder Avenue, was found on Haworth Street near Frankford Avenue. “He was staying with a man who is also on parole for a sexual offense,” Burke said.
 

Eugene Jones

August proved to be a pretty busy month for Eugene Jones, cops say.

Jones, 42, robbed at least 18 people at gunpoint across South Philadelphia between Aug. 5 and Aug. 29, according to police. Investigators said Jones acted alone during his heists, which were committed close to his parked getaway car, a black Chrysler.

Detectives arrested Jones at his home on Bonsall Street near McKean on Aug. 29, about a half-hour after he robbed a 40-year-old woman at 13th and Wolf streets. Investigators said they found numerous stolen purses, credit cards, cell phones and identification cards when they executed search warrants on his home and car.

Jones, who has 17 prior arrests, was charged with multiple counts of robbery and related offenses, police said.

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This might come as a surprise to no one, but here it is nontheless: The two men who were allegedly involved in an armored car robbery, high-speed chase and a subsequent shootout with police that injured Officer Adrian Hospedale today have long, long criminal histories.

Brian Williams, 50, of D Street near Whitaker Avenue, has 31 prior arrests, including multiple convictions for robbery, theft, assault and prison escape, according to court records. Cohort Anthony Reid, 42, of Moore Street near 5th, has 16 priors, including several convictions for robbery and assault.

Reid was wounded by police during a shootout with cops that littered 63rd Street near Grays Avenue with dozens of shell casing, police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said. He was being treated tonight at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Hospedale, who won the 24th George Fencl award in May, is in stable condition at HUP, where doctors are treating him for mouth injuries caused by "some form of ballistics," Vanore said. For the full story on what transpired, read Dana DiFilippo's story here.

Hospedale is a warm, engaging guy who took on the not-so-plum assignment of walking a daily beat in Southwest Philadelphia three years ago. Residents and cops say he brought a measure of peace to his patrol route -- Chester Avenue to Kingsessing, from 54th to 58th.

Photographer Sarah Glover and I spent a day with Hospedale in the spring, when he was named the Fencl winner. We both marveled at the way people responded to him -- he couldn't walk more than a few feet down Chester Avenue without someone running up, shaking his hand or hugging him. Hospedale told us he had dreamed all his life of being a cop and making a difference. It was clear that he had, out in a stretch of the 12th District that was and still is struggling to reclaim itself from corner drug boys and spates of random violence.

We hope that he's back on his feet and out in the 12th again soon.

House of Correction in Northeast Philadelphia

An inmate at the Philadelphia House of Correction sliced a female prison guard in the face with a 4-inch piece of metal earlier today.

Prison Commissioner Lou Giorla said the guard was attacked about 2 p.m. while she patrolled a cell block in the general population area. "She had received a laceration to the face from an unruly inmate with a homemade weapon," Giorla said. "Thank God she wasn't seriously injured."

Giorla said it was unclear why the prisoner, whose name wasn't released, attacked the guard.

Lorenzo North, the president of the Prison Guards Union Local 159, identified the guard as Natasha Bryant, 32.  Bryant  received "stitches below her eye" at Jeanes Hospital, North said. She's worked at the House of Correction, on State Road in Northeast Philadelphia, for about a year. "Our job is dangerous, but people don't realize it. If I'd call you up every time one of our officers got hurt, I'd be calling every day," he added.

*A prisoner hanged himself in his cell at SCI-Graterford on Monday, prison officials said. A guard found Jose Pagan hanging in his cell about 8:20 a.m, the officials said. Pagan, 42, a convicted murderer, was pronounced dead at the scene.
 

*A 22-year-old man was shot to death shortly after 6 a.m. this morning at 66th Street and Woodland Avenue, Southwest Philadelphia. He was not immediately identified. Police had no motive or suspects.

*An overweight robber held up the Wachovia Bank branch at 3rd Street and Oregon Avenue, South Philadelphia, today and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash, running west on Oregon Avenue, authorities said.
The thief was described as a white man in his 30s, 5 feet 11, and weighing about 300 pounds. Tipsters can call the FBI at 215-418-4000.
 

Sketch of man who abducted Temple student at 16th and Market.

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A Temple University student was briefly abducted earlier this week by a sly fiend who lured her with a call for help.
Police said the 20-year-old woman was walking on 16th Street near Market about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday when she heard a man say, “Can someone help me with this seat?”
She spotted a 20-something black man who was standing next to a black four-door sedan that was parked with its motor running.
The man claimed he was having trouble securing his baby’s car seat. When the woman leaned in head-first to examine the seat,the assailant forced her into the sedan and locked the door, said Capt. John Darby, of the police Special Victims Unit.
As the terrified woman realized that the “baby” was actually a stuffed animal, her abductor got behind the steering wheel and drove off.
Darby said the man threatened to shoot her if she tried to flee. A black handgun rested next to him on a center console.
The abduction, however, was short-lived.
The woman bolted out of the car when the kidnapper stopped at a traffic light near 16th and JFK Boulevard, Darby said. She was not harmed.
She described the abductor as being muscular, about 5-foot-10 and having low-cut hair and a beard.
Darby described the incident as “quite unusual and disturbing.” He said it was the first time he had heard of a man using “props” to lure an unsuspecting woman into a car.
Temple University Campus Safety Services sent a memo to students earlier today warning them about the incident.
The abduction occurred just three days after a man groped and punched a 21-year-old woman as she entered her apartment building near 21st and Locust streets.
Tipsters can contact the SVU at 215-685-3251.

One person was killed in a triple shooting in Southwest Philadelphia earlier tonight. Gunshots rang out on Regent Street near Cemetery Avenue about 9:50 p.m., said Homicide Sgt. Tim Cooney.

A 19-year-old woman was wounded twice in the chest and died at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania a short while later. A 16-year-old boy was in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the back. A 19-year-old man was in stable condition at HUP with a gunshot wound to his leg, Cooney said. There were no suspects or motives. Tipsters can contact police at 215-686-3334 or -3335.

A few bits of crime news, collected by Stephanie Farr, John F. Morrison and yours truly:

*A man wearing a Chicago White Sox hat robbed the Citizens Bank branch at 5th Street near Godfrey Avenue in Olney this morning. The man handed a teller a demand note and fled with an undisclosed amount of money, the FBI said. He was described as a short black man in his early 20s with a mustache and goatee. Anyone with information about his identity should call the FBI at 215-418- 4000.
 

*District Attorney Lynne Abraham and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey announced that the city’s Gun Violence Task Force will start arresting people who lie on their applications for firearms licenses. The task force, which combines police officers and assistant district attorneys, began in 2006 with funding from the state. So far the operation has made 346 arrests and seized 673 firearms.

*Nefertiti Randall, 29, was sentenced yesterday to 66 months in federal prison for an extensive identity-theft scheme. Randall, of Irving Street near 54th, West Philadelphia, used the credit- card numbers of nine people to make $20,129 in purchases. Randall, who pleaded guilty to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, was ordered to pay $38,000 in restitution. Authorities said Randall plotted this scheme while she was in prison for similar offenses.
 

*A 21-year-old woman was sexually assaulted and repeatedly punched in the face by a knife-wielding man who grabbed her about 10:30 p.m. Saturday as she was entering her apartment on Locust Street near Van Pelt, Center City, police said. The man ran when she shot in the face with pepper spray, police said. He was described as a slender black man in his late 20s with a goatee and wearing a red Phillies hat. Anyone with information about his identity is urged to call the Special Victims Unit at 215-685-3251.

*An arrest warrant was issued yesterday for Justin Peoples, 20, accused of being involved in a shooting on Pomona Street near McCallum, Germantown, on July 30. No one was injured. Peoples, who is also known as “Blaze,” is a suspect in several other cases, police said. His last known address was on the same block of Pomona Street where the shooting occurred. Tipsters can contact detectives at 215-686-3353.

*A 25-year-old woman was upgraded from critical to stable condition at Jefferson University Hospital yesterday after being hit by a car while riding a bicycle along Delaware Avenue near Christian Street in Queen Village Sunday night.
According to police, the bicyclist was hit as she was crossing three lanes of traffic shortly before midnight. The driver stayed at the scene and will not face any charges.