Woman Sentenced To 40 Years To Life In Prison For School Abduction, Sexual Assault
Christina Regusters was scheduled for sentencing Monday.
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Christina Regusters was scheduled for sentencing Monday.
The family of the little girl who was abducted from her West Philadelphia kindergarten class continues to pursue legal action against the Philadelphia school district.
The five-year-old victim was kidnapped from her kindergarten class by a woman impersonating her mother, then taken to a house and abused in unspeakable ways, causing horrific physical injuries.
The five-year-old victim was kidnapped from her West Philadelphia school by a woman posing as her mother, then sexually assaulted.
The defendant lived with her aunt in West Philadelphia, near the school, at the time of the kidnapping. Christina Regusters is also charged with molesting the abducted kindergartener.
The five-year-old victim, blindfolded during most of her kidnap ordeal, has testified that she was aware of three people: the disguised woman who kidnapped her, a man, and another woman who identified herself as "China."
Prosecutors presented testimony by an 11-year-old cousin of the defendant who testified Regusters touched her inappropriately years ago, on a couple of occasions.
The family of a girl who died of an asthma attack after attending a public school without a nurse has sued the Philadelphia School District.
Prosecution argued unsuccessfully that the statement should be allowed because Regusters had been given Miranda warnings twice previously.
Recounting the horror, the prosecution played a long, videotaped recording of a 5-year-old victim describing her abduction from Bryant Elementary School in Upper Darby, a sexual assault and being found abandoned in a playground.
Testimony in the trial of a 21-year-old woman charged with kidnapping a Philadelphia child from her elementary school and then sexually assualting her focused today on the police investigation that led to the defendant.
Imagine this: you're walking to work early one winter morning when it's still dark, and you hear a little voice crying out, "Help! Help! Help!"
The mother of a girl kidnapped from her West Philadelphia elementary school and then sexually abused has taken the stand at the trial of the woman accused in the case.
A nine-year-old brother was cleared to testify after the judge determined he understood right from wrong.
Opening statements were scheduled for Monday morning in the trial of a 21-year-old woman charged with kidnapping a kindergartener from her West Philadelphia school and then sexually abusing her.
Jury selection got underway Monday in the trial of a daycare worker charged with brutally, physically and sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl kidnapped from Bryant Elementary School in Upper Darby in January of 2013.
"The school district, in an affirmative and reckless way, allowed a little girl to be taken from the cocoon of a kindergarten class into a den of horror," says attorney Tom Kline, who now represents the girl and her family.
"There was a failure to train the substitute teacher who allowed this young, innocent child to be taken from the school," the family's attorney says.
Despite strong early suspicion others were involved, a Philadelphia prosecutor now says there is no evidence of conspiracy in the case of a 5-year-old girl who was abducted from Bryant Elementary School in January.
A 22-year-old school bus attendant and hall monitor has been arrested for the alleged indecent assault of a 14-year-old girl and using foul language with three other students, according to police.
Twenty-year-old Christina Regusters is the only person charged with the kidnapping, but an attorney is convinced that others were involved.
The case caused repercussions at Bryant Elementary School and across the Philadelphia school district after the girl was permitted to leave the school with a woman in a hijab posing as her mother.
Mayor Nutter says the check for Nelson Mandela Myers will be in the mail very soon.
Defense attorney W. Fred Harrison Jr. had argued that defendant Christina Regusters has no previous criminal record, has denied the allegations in this case, and has ties to the community.
