It all started with a simple arrest.
Narcotics cops stopped Deborah Flemming, 53, in Port Richmond on Sunday, only to find that she was carrying some crystal methamphetamine, police said. She was arrested, and investigators quickly turned their attention to the place where she had allegedly just purchased the crystal meth: A rowhouse on Salmon Street near Clearfield.
Cops served a search warrant on the property about 6:20 p.m., and found about $17,000 worth of crystal meth, as well as a small amount of marijuana, said Narcotics Capt. Debra Frazier. During a search of a shed behind the house, police found nine pistols and 17 shotguns and rifles, including one rifle that was "homemade," Frazier said.
Police arrested John Connell, 39, who lived in the rowhouse, and Fern Goldberg, 50, police said.
"All of those weapons have no other purpose than to kill, maim or destroy," Frazier said. "This started out as a simple narcotics job and grew into something bigger."
Dana DiFilippo has covered murder, mayhem and miscellany at the Daily News since 2000. She grew up in Delaware County and studied journalism and photography at Penn State University. E-mail tips to difilid@phillynews.com.
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Stephanie Farr has been reporting for the Daily News since 2007, covering everything from gay porn stars who entered the burglary business to moon trees, skinheads, murders and naked bike rides. She covers crime, both in the city and suburbs, and keeps clippings of bizarre Associated Press articles. Her favorite this year was the story about the drunk in Punxsutawney who gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dead opossum. E-mail tips to farrs@phillynews.com.
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Phillip Lucas joined the Daily News crime team in 2011. He grew up on the mean streets of Seattle and studied journalism and psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Before landing in the City of Brotherly Love, Phillip was a reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. Email tips to lucasp@phillynews.com.
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Morgan Zalot is the newest crime reporter at the Daily News, starting in 2011 after interning at the paper twice as a Temple University journalism student. In her past stints at the DN, she covered just about everything, from drunken Phillies fans to a barber shop in a high school to a grisly murder-suicide. She’s a born-and-raised Philly girl who grew up in the Northeast. E-mail tips to zalotm@philly.com.
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