A Montgomery County elementary school teacher and wrestling coach sexually assaulted three boys he encountered online, including one of his former students, prosecutors said Saturday.
Jason Theodore, 54, began the assaults in 2019, plying the boys with marijuana and alcohol before forcing them to perform sex acts on him, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
He told one of the victims, then 14, “I love how tiny you are,” police said.
Theodore, of Upper Gwynedd, has been charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, and related crimes.
He remained in custody, denied bail. There was no indication he had hired an attorney.
For years, Theodore worked as a physical education teacher at Montgomery Township Elementary and a wrestling coach at Pennbrook Middle School, both in the North Penn School District, according to prosecutors.
In a statement, North Penn School District Superintendent Todd M. Bauer said that Theodore was placed on administrative leave after district officials were notified by Upper Gwynedd police about their investigation into his alleged behavior.
North Penn is cooperating with police, and Bauer said counselors are available to students.
The investigation into Theodore began Sept. 9, when one of the victims filed a police report saying Theodore had sexually assaulted him starting in 2019, when he was 13 years old, the affidavit said.
The boy was 17 when they last had contact in 2022. He told police that he befriended Theodore through Snapchat, and that Theodore had used a pseudonym and lied about his age, portraying himself to be much younger.
From 2019 to 2022, Theodore repeatedly sexually assaulted him, sometimes recording the encounters. On one occasion, Theodore pressured him into having sexual contact with another teen, the affidavit said.
That second teen later told police he met Theodore in a chat room in 2020 when he was 16 and later began messaging him on Snapchat. When the two finally met up, the teen recognized Theodore immediately as his former teacher and wrestling coach, and realized Theodore had sought him out after seeing him in the chat room.
Like the first teen, the second teen said Theodore sexually assaulted him, and in his case continued to do so after he became an adult. He told police he “felt coerced and groomed by Theodore, resulting in long lasting embarrassment and shame about the physicality between him and Theodore,” the affidavit said.
The third victim said he met Theodore when he was 14, in 2020, and that Theodore sexually assaulted him on three occasions, usually in Theodore’s vehicle.
In an interview with police, Theodore admitted that he was attracted to “younger males,” but denied being involved with anyone underage, the affidavit said.
When an officer mentioned the first victim’s name, Theodore became flushed and hid his face, but said he didn’t know the person the officer was referring to, the affidavit said.
Theodore is scheduled to appear before a district judge for a preliminary hearing on Thursday.
Brandon Parish, former owner of the Kibitz Room in King of Prussia and deli manager at the original Cherry Hill location, has filed for personal bankruptcy, months after his Montgomery County restaurant closed amid mounting debts.
Parish owes creditors nearly $1.8 million, including $1.2 million to Hanover Community Bank for a small-business loan, and has about $15,500 in assets, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The 33-year-old King of Prussia resident filed for bankruptcy in early September, five months after he and his father, Neil, were evicted from their storefront in the Valley Forge Center on U.S. Route 202. Their landlord won a judgment for more than $194,000 in rent and fees.
The restaurant was in business for a year.
Brandon Parish sits at a table at the now-closed Kibitz Room in King of Prussia in April 2025.Kriston Jae Bethel / For The Inquirer
The restaurant also owed more than $135,000 to distributor Foods Galore, a debt listed in Parish’s personal bankruptcy filing alongside more than $140,000 owed to other business vendors and related services.
The King of Prussia location’s debts are “going to take some work to clean up,” Brandon Parish said in April, noting the expansive full-service restaurant strayed too far from its over-the-counter roots. “Obviously, it’s been a disaster since day one. Nothing went as planned. But we’ll have to figure all that out.”
Meanwhile, the Cherry Hill Kibitz Room — a separate business that had been owned by Brandon Parish’s mother, Sandy — abruptly closed and filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Neil and Brandon Parish, backed by outside investors, negotiated a deal in bankruptcy court to buy the Cherry Hill equipment and sign a new lease there, though neither Parish would be an owner. The Springdale Road deli reopened in May, with the Parish men behind the counter.
Brandon Parish (right) waits on a customer at the Kibitz Room in Cherry Hill on May 1. Michael Klein / Staff
Brandon Parish’s personal bankruptcy case will not impact operations at the Cherry Hill deli since he is only an employee, according to a spokesperson.
The Kibitz Room has been part of the Parish family for more than two decades.
Brandon grew up at Kibitz, standing on milk crates to wash dishes for his father. Ever since he was a kid, delis were his “comfort zone,” Brandon said in 2025.
A pastrami sandwich at the now-closed Kibitz Room in King of Prussia. Kriston Jae Bethel / For The Inquirer
After Brandon’s mother and father split about a decade ago, his dad moved back to the Baltimore area, and Brandon continued to run the Cherry Hill restaurant with his mom. But he was itching to open his own place, he said.
In 2025, Brandon left his post in Cherry Hill to open a Kibitz Room in the former Michael’s Deli in King of Prussia. The business was an independent venture with his father, who had returned to the Philly area from Baltimore. The senior Parish was in charge of the menu, but his son was the boss: “This is Brandon’s store,” Neil said at the time.
The pair said they were excited to open a full-service restaurant that was about four times the size of the Cherry Hill deli and could seat 200 people.
The Kibitz Room in King of Prussia was about four times the size of the original deli in Cherry Hill, a separate business not owned by Brandon Parish. Kriston Jae Bethel / For The Inquirer
They created a giant menu full of staples like corned beef and pastrami sandwiches, matzo ball soup, knishes, and chicken pot pies, as well as elevated items like garlicky flank steak. They planned tableside chopped liver service.
“I feel like this really encapsulates the Jewish deli as a whole experience,” Brandon Parish said at the time. “The old, the new, the vibe, the aesthetic, the personality, the quality, the menu mix.”
And he scoffed at occasional reports that Jewish delis were going out of style: “I think if you do it well, then you never have to worry about failure.”
“I had a tape recorder I would sing into,” said the South Jersey jazz vocalist.
“I was one of those kids holding a brush in the mirror, singing Billy Joel songs. I was that kid.”
But it was a roundabout route to the stage for Farnese, whose debut album, Oh No, I’m in Love Again, was just released on Philly jazz pianist Orrin Evans’ Imani Records.
First, he followed his father, Aldo Farnese — the star of Philadelphia children’s television shows Dickory Doc and Adam Android in the 1960s and 1970s — in pursuing an acting career. After a stint in Hollywood working in production and scoring some small movie and TV roles, he came home to Philly in the mid-1990s.
Since then, Farnese has had a day job — actually, usually a night job — as a TV camera operator for the Phillies, first at Veterans Stadium and, since 2004, at Citizens Bank Park. He operates a super slo-mo camera from the left field power alley in front of Ghost Energy Deck (formerly Harry the K’s).
By 2012, Farnese was long settled into that job, and also working Sixers and Flyers games for NBC Sports Philadelphia. In 2012, he won an Emmy for his work on the World Series.
But then he felt — as he puts it speaking via Zoom from his home in Woolwich Township, Gloucester County, while his golden retrievers Bailey and Oliver lounge on a sofa behind him — “a tap on the shoulder.”
The cover image to Greg Farnese’s album “Oh No, I’m in Love Again.”Courtesy of Imani Records
“When I was a kid, my father would sing throughout the house. We would say ‘Dad, you’ve got a great voice, you should be a singer,’” Farnese said. “And he would go, ‘Meh,’ and kind of blow us off.”
Then one day, he said, “I was singing while putting my son’s air hockey table together.” His wife, Laurie, said “Greg, you’ve got a beautiful voice. You should sing.”
“I started to go ‘Meh …’ — and then I stopped myself. Because I remembered that as a child, I thought my father was wasting his talent.
“So I said: ‘Get me a karaoke machine for Christmas, and I’ll start working on my voice.’ And that’s what I did.”
Farnese, who will perform at Tim McCloone’s Supper Club in Asbury Park on Oct. 4 and the Exit 0 Jazz Festival in Cape May on Oct. 23, is a poised vocalist and skilled song interpreter. Oh No! I’m in Love Again features two originals, including the title cut, both written with Alan Gardner, a former collaborator with Farnese’s father.
Greg Farnese, a television cameraman and musician, is photographed Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2026, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, where he works as a camera operator in left field. Farnese, a crooner, recently released his debut album, “Oh No, I’m in Love Again,” on Grammy-nominated Philadelphia pianist Orrin Evans’ Imani Records. Farnese also works as a Phillies television cameraman for NBC Sports Philadelphia, stationed nightly in the left-field power alley.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
‘The magician canceled, can you come down and sing a song?’
The album, whose polish belies that it was recorded in a single day at MorningStar Studios in Montgomery County, features Philly jazz players like drummer Leon Jordan Sr. and horn arrangements by trumpeter Elliot Bild.
Along with a delicate version of Johnny Mercer’s “Dream” accompanied by guitarist Paul Bollenbock, the album includes Green Day, Oasis, and Tears for Fears songs, all artfully rearranged to make familiar sound fresh.
It’s been a long road of confidence building for Farnese to work with a musician as accomplished as Evans, a three-time Grammy nominee who this spring was named artistic director of the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra. (He’ll split his time between Seattle and Philly.)
Speaking between innings during a recent Phillies-Astros game — an 11-7 win, thanks to a Kyle Schwarber grand slam — Farnese calls Evans “so smart and honest, and a great pianist. It’s like having Quincy Jones in my corner.”
Greg Farnese (center) performs at the World Stage in University City on Sept. 18, 2026. Farnese just released his debut album, “Oh No, I’m in Love Again.”Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
“I started out singing in pizza parlors,” said Farnese, 62. “My wife is a psychologist and she used to work at nursing facilities. She called me one day and said, ‘The magician canceled, can you come down and sing a song?’
“I told her no, I’m not ready yet. She said, ‘Get the hell down here, just do it!’ I was afraid, and I was so self-conscious about being good.”
But as Farnese sang the 1940s standard “Moonlight in Vermont” to an elderly audience in Egg Harbor Township, he had a revelation.
“The two ladies in the front started crying. I was bringing them back to when they were young. That moment I realized that it wasn’t really about me. It was about the effect the music had on the audience. I saw them crying and I thought: This is what I want to do.”
Since then, Farnese has surrounded himself with first-class musicians and sung in area jazz clubs and private events, while also traveling for gigs in New York and Chicago.
Working with the Phillies suits his ambitions. Knowing his schedule months in advance, he books shows when the team is on the road.
“We’ve brought him on a couple of times to sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame,’” said Phillies TV play-by-play announcer Tom McCarthy. “I love his energy. He just brings so much professionalism and creativity and knows how to get the crowd involved. He’s an entertainer.”
Farnese put an exclamation point on one of the Phillies most memorable wins this year.
‘What would Ray Charles do with a Green Day song?’
Evans wasn’t all that familiar with Farnese’s music before he decided to produce Oh No, I’m in Love Again and put it out on his label, home to artists like Philly keyboard player Luke Carlos O’Reilly and Los Angeles drummer Tina Raymond.
Choosing who to work with isn’t about “it has to be the best vocalist, or the best saxophonist. It’s if somebody asks me to help them, and I believe in them as a human being.”
Though he “wasn’t super-duper familiar with Greg’s singing,” Evans said, “I knew some of the people he was playing with. So I know this person doesn’t play with slouches, so he can’t be a slouch.”
The key to success in recording, Evans says, was trust.
“I just like working with people I like. And I know that if we can vibe off the bandstand, there’s no way we’re not going to vibe on the bandstand.
“One of the best things I can say about Greg is his desire and ability to learn. He has an inquisitive spirit. He’s not done evolving. I really love this record, and I’m excited for the next one because of him.”
“I love jazz and swing music,” Farnese said. “You know, Bennett, Bublé, Sinatra. That’s my wheelhouse. But growing up I was exposed to all these different styles. Everything from Simon and Garfunkel and the Beatles to Curtis Mayfield and Puccini.
“So I’m creating a vocal style that combines songs I really love in jazz arrangements. What would Ray Charles do with a Green Day song? What would Duke Ellington do with a Blood, Sweat & Tears song? I want to be my own artist that creates my own music in my own style.”
“I have a great job at NBC Sports Philadelphia. But when I got that tap on the shoulder, that was God saying. ‘This is not what you’re supposed to be doing.’ And being a middle-aged man, this is not a dress rehearsal. This is it. Now’s the time.”
Greg Farnese will perform Oct. 4 at Tim McCloone’s Supper Club, 1200 Ocean Ave N, Asbury Park, timmcloonessupperclub.com and Oct. 23 at the Exit 0 Jazz Festival, Cape May, exitzerojazzfestival.com.
Redeemer Health CEO Greg Wozniak has resigned from the financially troubled nonprofit Montgomery County health system after a little more than two years, Redeemer announced Thursday.
Replacing Wozniak on an interim basis is chief transformation officer Jim Logue, who has held the role since early 2025.
Redeemer has posted operating losses every fiscal year from 2017 to 2025. It hasn’t yet posted financial results for the fiscal year that ended in June.
“Jim and his team will work with our financial advisors and counsel to implement a reorganization of the Redeemer system to assure its continued viability and a sustainable business model,” board chair William R. Sasso said in an internal communication obtained by The Inquirer.
“This reorganization is expected to involve some significant organizational changes which will be announced in the coming weeks as they are finalized,” the note said.
More than four years ago, Redeemer announced that it was seeking what it called a “strategic partner” for its 239-bed hospital in Meadowbrook, near Abington, but nothing came of that effort.
Redeemer also operates a home care business, nursing homes, senior apartments.
Redeemer announced additional personnel changes Thursday in its internal communication, including the departure at the end of this month of chief financial officer Kim Cummings. Former CFO Michael Keen is returning to that position.
Another returning executive is Donald Friel, a former executive vice president tapped to assist Logue.
Diane Derr, who has been at Redeemer for 44 years, is being promoted to chief administrative officer from chief nursing officer.
Editors note: This article has been updated to correct Derr’s history with Redeemer.
A whistleblower lawsuit accuses Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration of bypassing procurement requirements meant to safeguard the use of taxpayer dollars, including during renovations to the governor’s mansion, and firing a staffer who had raised concerns.
The administration waived competitive bid requirements after purchases were made, split transactions to bypass the threshold requiring a bidding process, and kept paying a security contractor who no longer provided service, the suit says — claims that a spokesperson for Shapiro rejected.
The federal lawsuit is the latest in the controversy surrounding the security upgrades and renovations to the state-owned governor’s residence in Harrisburg and Shapiro’s personal home in Abington Township, after a man firebombed the mansion on the first night of Passover in 2025 while the governor and his extended family were asleep inside.
This work was largely done through the state’s emergency procurement process that allows agencies to the skip lengthy bid protocols, as officials took quick action to strengthen security.
But the overall cost and questions over whether the correct processes were followed led to scrutiny by Republican lawmakers. The project at Shapiro’s Abington residence also led to a property dispute with his neighbors, who filed a federal suit against him that led the Shapiros to sue in return. Those lawsuits are ongoing.
Nicole Moyer, a procurement specialist with the Pennsylvania Department of General Services, claims in the federal lawsuit filed last week that after she repeatedly raised concerns about the “waste and wrongdoing” by the agency, she was fired.
Moyer, 49, has been working in procurement since 1995, first in the Army and later at the Pennsylvania State Police and various state agencies, according to the complaint. She joined the Pennsylvania Department of General Services in 2023.
Rosie Lapowsky, Shapiro’s press secretary, said in a statement that the allegations “by a disgruntled former employee who was dismissed from her position” are “totally and completely false.”
The suit, filed in the Middle District of Pennsylvania against the state, also names the Pennsylvania Department of General Services and former General Services Secretary Reggie McNeil, along with other officials from the agency that oversees the state’s purchasing, construction, and facilities. Shapiro is not a named defendant.
Mark Schwartz, a Delaware County attorney representing Moyer, said he hoped Shapiro will be deposed as part of the litigation.
“The question is how involved, if at all, was the governor in terms of the residence procurement process,” Schwarz said.
In her role as a procurement specialist, Moyer would not have beenaware of details about the emergency procurements for the governor’s residence project, Lapowsky added. Shapiro’s administration complied with “all relevant procurement policies,” she said.
“PSP identified necessary security improvements based on its assessment and issued an emergency declaration consistent with the procurement code in the fastest, most efficient, and most cost-effective way to complete the work and ensure the safety of the governor and his family,” Lapowsky said.
The whistleblower lawsuit claims the administration flouted bidding requirements and made purchases outside of existing contracts, often to meet specifications provided by Shapiro’s interior designer, de la Torre Design Studio.
The firm had been quietly hired to renovate the official residence by Team Pennsylvania, a Harrisburg-basednonprofit that operates the public-private partnership between the state and private businesses. Shapiro has come under scrutiny previously for utilizing the group to watch the Philadelphia Eagles lose to the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2023 Super Bowl and for other trips, Spotlight PA reported.
Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania, waves before meeting with Mike Parson, governor of Missouri, at the NFL Experience to make a friendly wager on the Super Bowl outcome. The governors met at the Lombardi Trophy on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, in Phoenix, Ariz. .David Maialetti / Staff Photographer
De la Torre had been working on the governor’s mansion before the fire, and asked for a specific brand of lighting fixture for the design.
The Pennsylvania Department of General Services deemed the $456,000 purchase too expensive, the suit says, and did not budge when the supplier revised the cost to $380,000.
But after the fire, the costly lighting fixtures were installed without any competitive bid or paper trail that would allow the purchase to be audited, according to the complaint.
Similarly, a $17,000 carpet was purchased and partially installed before procurement’s approval and outside existing contracts for carpets and floorings, the suit says.
Time and again, through other examples detailed in the lawsuit between the April 2025 fire and her March termination, the general services department had to issue waivers after the fact to “clean things up,” the suit says.
Moyer also questioned overlapping payments for the security monitoring companies for Shapiro’s residences, the home of Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, and regional offices, with one company not providing services for months, the suit says.
“Nonetheless, the proposed emergency job order contract that included provision for private residences was processed under the same umbrella as state facilities without bidding,” the complaint says.
The residences are not the only place Moyer says the administration fell short of the procurement requirement.
Earlier this year, the suit says, general services approved a $20,000 lactation pod for the Capitol even though a $4,950 option was available under an existing contract. The only difference between the pods was “outer fake ‘woodgrain’ decal,” according to the complaint.
“Plaintiff questioned the rationale for paying substantially more for a minimal aesthetic modification,” the suit says. “Plaintiff was overruled.”
Moyer was terminated in March after repeatedly reporting concerns, including on whether the department couldlegally make purchases for private residencies, the suit says.
Moyer, a registered Republican from York County, filed her suit just weeks ahead of the forthcoming midterm elections, in which Shapiro, a Democrat, is seeking a second term.
Lapowsky said the suit was “clearly timed” to hurt Shapiro politically.
McNeil left his post as secretary of the general services department in August. Shapiro appointed executive deputy secretary Sandra Aguilera to serve as acting secretary.
The Jenkintown School District is cancelingthe rest ofits varsity football season over safety concerns from low participation, officials announced this week.
The high school team in Montgomery County’s smallest school district had played two games so far this season and was set to play Lower Moreland on Friday.
There were not enough players on the team, nor enough active participation, to safely play a whole season, high school principal Thomas Roller and athletic director Aubrie Breisblatt wrote in a letter to the school community Tuesday, and the team had already been forced to forfeit games.
“Continuing to compete under these circumstances would place significant physical demands on a limited number of players,” the school leaders wrote, adding that the decision had come at the head coach’s recommendation.
While the team will not play any more games this year, the program will continue to hold practices, and officials hope to rebuild the program in the future.
“Sports participation, especially at a school as small as Jenkintown, ebbs and flows over time depending on students’ interests,” school board president Carolyn Riley wrote in a text Wednesday.
”We remain very supportive of our students committed to playing football.”
The Lower Merion school board on Tuesday selected a Tredyffrin/Easttown teacher and former Narberth Borough Council member to fill a seat left vacant by a school board member who was arrested.
The board picked Muna Elshakhs from a group of 17 applicants, after interviewing her and fellow applicant Andrea Gosfield during a special meeting Tuesday. The board had selected four candidates to be interviewed Tuesday, but two withdrew their names from consideration before the meeting.
The board did not release their names, or the names of the other candidates who had applied to fill the seat. The position became vacant after Jen Rivera resigned after she was arrested last month on charges of stealing more than $50,000 from her employer.
Some community members accused the board of a lack of transparency in appointing a new member to the term, which runs until December 2027.
“Table this appointment, give the full list of applicants, and enter them into the public record,” Matthew Posey, who is among a group of parents challenging the district over its use of technology, said during public comment Tuesday, as he accused the board of “backroom deliberations.”
District spokesperson Amy Buckman said before Tuesday’s meeting that the eight board members had “individually notified the board secretary of their top choices from among the applicants to be publicly interviewed.” The secretary tallied the selections, and “the applicants with the most selections” were scheduled to be interviewed, Buckman said.
Those who were not selected included at least two people who ran for the Democratic-led board unsuccessfully in 2025: Rich Lester, who ran as a Democrat but was not endorsed by the local Democratic Party, and Deena Pack, who ran as a Republican.
In an interview Tuesday, Lester said he was unsure how board members had made their selections for filling the vacant seat. He said he was told there was no scoring rubric used.
“To have no sort of what we’re looking for is disappointing,” said Lester, who had proposed more accountability and financial analysis from the board.
Pack, who addressed the school board during public comment Tuesday, said she was the only applicant who had received more than 7,000 votes, and had already been scrutinized by community members during the campaign process.
“Should the board change its mind, I’m ready,” she said.
When it was time for the board to nominate candidates, board president Kerry Sautner nominated Pack. But she did not vote for her.
Sautner voted for Elshakhs, as did board vice president Todd Ridky and members Shayna Kalish and Sarah Thomas. Board members Anna Shurak, Juanita Rivera, and Jason Herman voted for Gosfield.
Board member Abby Rubin, who has clashed with board leaders, including around the district’s technology policy, nominated and voted for Lester.
That gave Elshakhs four votes, but five were needed for a majority. The board voted again with the same result.
Elshakhs then withdrew her application, though some board members told her she did not have to do so, and solicitor Kenneth Roos told board members they could still vote for her.
“There’s nothing wrong” with the board’s split, Sautner said, calling the debate “healthy tension.”
“This is a good problem to have,” Ridky said, later adding, “I wish we had more seats to offer tonight.”
Shurak said that Gosfield, a lawyer, had been involved in the district’s equity policy and had children in district schools that were not currently represented by other board members.
Thomas credited Elshakhs’ perspective as a current teacher, though some board members questioned her ability to attend daytime committee meetings given her job. Sautner said the board could be flexible with scheduling.
Shurak ultimately switched her vote to Elshakhs, saying she wanted to respect the majority of the board. Kalish accused Lerner of obstructing the process by continuing to vote for Lester; Lerner said she had a different opinion.
After Elshakhs files a financial statement of interest, she will be sworn in and officially join the board, Roos said.
District Judge Christopher Cerski told head coach Terence Tolbert, 55; associate head coach Darian McFadden, 42; assistant coach Benjamin Johnson III, 45; and volunteer coach Ralph Burnley, 60, that they had failed in their duties to protect the then-15-year-old by encouraging him not to tell his mother about the assaults, and insisting on handling the matter themselves.
During the lengthy proceedings, the victim testified about the assaults and how it affected him.
After a marathon preliminary hearing in Jenkintown, Cerski held all four men over for trial on two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of conspiracy, but dismissed another count of conspiracy that they faced.
Their lawyers argued against the merits of the case, saying the coaches were never told the full scope of abuse the teen suffered. He had deliberately downplayed the assault to them, according to testimony Monday, because he was embarrassed that his teammates had used a broomstick to poke at his buttocks.
The group only found out the full details months later, when video of an earlier assault surfaced during Cheltenham School District’s internal investigation.
Tolbert’s attorney, Thomas Egan III, called the prosecution’s “grand conspiracy to stomp on this teen’s voice” completely false.
“[Tolbert] could only act in the scope of what he knew,” Egan said. “He had a player who didn’t have major injuries and intended to still play football and not tell his mother.”
But Assistant District Attorney Samantha Cauffman balked at that theory of the case, saying adults who should have known better were improperly foisting their responsibility onto a teenager.
“This case boils down to the fact that a 15-year-old was beaten up, and you tell him not to tell his mother,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if he didn’t want to tell her. You are the adults in the room.”
Two players charged alongside the former coaches, Isaiah Simpson and Josiah Peeler, both 18, waived their hearings and will also face a Montgomery County judge: Simpson for conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment, and related crimes for his role in the September assault, and Peeler for false swearing for being untruthful to police.
Former head coach Terence Tolbert (second from left), one of six members of the Cheltenham High School football team appearing for their preliminary hearings Monday in Jenkintown Monday, Sept. 21, 2026.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerFormer assistant coach Benjamin Johnson III.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerFormer associate head coach Darian McFadden.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerFormer volunteer coach Ralph Burnley (right).Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerPlayer Isaiah Simpson.Tom Gralish / Staff PhotographerPlayer Josiah Peeler.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Locker room assault victim takes the stand
The victim of the assault, whom The Inquirer is not naming, testified Monday that Simpson and a group of other players pulled him into the team’s locker room after practice in September 2025 and “jumped him.” The group stomped on his head while wearing cleats, kicked him in the groin, and assaulted him with the broom.
They were acting out a reference to a Meek Mill song, he said, that included the lyrics “broomstick all in his butt, tell him take that.”
In a quiet voice, as he faced his former coaches, the teen said the group attacked him because he had taken Peeler’s shoulder pads after his had been stolen out of his locker. Peeler reported the theft to the coaching staff, who made the entire team run extra laps as a punishment.
After the assault, the teen said he walked outside, asking Burnley for a ride home. He was crying, he said, and icing his groin to ease the pain he felt.
When he explained to Burnley what happened he omitted the detail about the broomstick, feeling embarrassed.
Burnley told him to call his mother. He declined, he said, because he was afraid she’d force him to stop playing football.
As he drove the teen home, Burnley called the other coaches to tell them about the assault. Later, Johnson, Tolbert, and McFadden spoke to him over the phone and told him not to tell anyone about the incident, and that they would handle it internally.
Privately, the coaches sent incriminating text messages to one another, prosecutors said, expressing concern that the incident “has to be handled and kept quiet.”
McFadden wrote “if this gets out we are [expletive]. They will cancel the whole season,” according to messages displayed in court.
However, the teen’s mother learned of the assault a week later from someone in the community, and Cheltenham began investigating the case.
During that probe, the district received video of a similar, earlier assault of the teen, which had taken place in August 2025. The video, played in court, showed a group of players ganging up on the teen to beat and mock him as he cries out for them to stop.
The teen testified that he didn’t disclose that assault to the coaches because he considered it more minor and was closer to “horseplay.”
The four coaches are expected to be arraigned in county court next month.
A sprawling brick Glenside building that last held an optometrist’s office is returning to its roots as developer Kevin Burke looks to build community hubs around his native Glenside.
The building at 2256 Mt. Carmel Ave. was once home to a bowling alley and billiards hall. The alley closed in 1971, and a family of eye specialists ran a glasses store there for decades.
Burke bought the 1920s structure, dubbed Glenside Lanes, in 2024. The micro-mall, which officially opened in May 2025, is now home to a barre and yoga studio, a coffee shop, a record store, and a gift shop, with plans for a music venue in the back.
Like the newly bustling Yorkway Place in Jenkintown, Glenside Lanes balances traditional retail with experiential businesses. The Montgomery County venues are part of a nationaltrend, as investors look to fill commercial space hollowed out by online shopping and post-pandemic consumer shifts.
“I think it’s the way to keep a brick-and-mortar going,” said Rhiannon Punzo, a Glenside Lanes tenant. “It’s like your community mall where you’re coming to one building that you can walk to, that isn’t corporate.”
Burke is preserving most of the bowling lane flooring — including lane guides and the alternating wooden plank style demarcating the gutters — in the back of the building, which will serve as a concert and event space as early as November. He plans to develop a similar multiuse site in Wyndmoor.
The lanes from a former bowling alley are still visible in a section of Glenside Lanes under construction on Sept. 3, 2026.Jess Rohan
But to make Glenside Lanes a success, Burke needed the right business partners.
First, he found Punzo, who runs the Dovetail shop of local artist-made gifts, and cofounded the art events company CO Lab.
Punzo connected with longtime music photographer Lisa Schaffer, who had planned to open a record store in about five years. Within months, Schaffer was opening Vinyl Chickie at Glenside Lanes.
“I want you to speed up your retirement plan,” Punzo recalls telling Schaffer.
Former professional ballet dancer Alyson Pray Ward used to park outside the building and walk down the street to her barre and yoga business, Align Studio.
“I would always look up to the second floor and think, ‘That would make a gorgeous ballet studio,’” Pray Ward said. She moved Align into Glenside Lanes last year.
This summer, Raven Cafe began serving Rival Bros. Coffee on the ground floor between Punzo and Schaffer’s stores. The stores flow into one another, making it easier to linger, owners and workers said: Yogis might pick up a teacher gift downstairs at the Dovetail after class, and music lovers grab coffee at Raven before browsing vinyl.
Raven Cafe opens into the Dovetail gift shop at Glenside Lanes. The stores flow into one another, making it easier for customers to linger, owners and workers said.Jess Rohan
“People can honestly show up and see familiar faces,” said Christine Collins, who teaches at Align. “I’m meeting adult friends there.”
The clutch of complementary businesses is exactly what Burke had hoped for.
The goal “was definitely to bring in different businesses that would help the community,” Burke said. “I always thought the bowling alley would be a perfect spot for that, and now we’re almost there.”
The final business partner Glenside Lanes needed, Punzo said, was Glenside itself.
“The community said, ‘We want this, if you build more we’ll come,’” Punzo said. “They could’ve been just talking, but everyone who said it showed up.”
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect where developer Kevin Burke may plan a future micro-mall.
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Ask Pastor Daniel Cho why Korean culture has become so popular in the United States, and he just smiles, shaking his head in wonderment.
“I’m not sure, but we’re pleasantly shocked,” said Cho, 59, a Montgomery County Presbyterian minister, who is leaving soon for missionary work in Vietnam. “Turn on the TV and see Korean dramas, K-pop music, and Korean food being everywhere.
Pastor Daniel ChoAlfred Lubrano
“It’s wonderful how we’ve gotten to share our culture. When someone loves what you love, it’s exciting.”
That excitement was palpable Saturday at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, where about 1,500 people gathered for “Happy Chuseok Fest 2026,” a Korean Thanksgiving celebration.
Part of a 2,000-year-old tradition, Chuseok is the time Koreans pause to reflect on family, gratitude, ancestors, harvest, and respect for nature.
“I love it because I get to spend time with my family,” said Kelsey Chung, 14, a ninth grader from Newtown Square. “It’s important to remember the traditions.”
Sponsored by the Korean Culture Community Foundation and Montgomery County, the Chuseok festival is highly significant for the roughly 30,000 to 40,000 Korean Americans living in Pennsylvania, said Sharon Hartz, president of the foundation.
“We know Christian and Jewish holidays,” she said. “But Koreans didn’t really have a holiday that was theirs. Chuseok is becoming more widely known.”
At the festival, vendors were selling kimchi (fermented cabbage), kimbap (rice, vegetables, and meat in seaweed), bulgogi (marinated beef), and, of course, fried chicken, the most popular Korean food abroad, according to the Korea Herald.
Beyond chicken, Korea is widely known for a “deep-rooted culture that people around the world have grabbed onto,” said sociologist Sam Richards of Pennsylvania State University, a Korean scholar who spoke at Saturday’s event.
“South Korea was poor 60 years ago, but it’s an economic superpower now,” said Richards, described by the Korea Times as a “megastar” whose YouTube videos are popular in Korea because of his love for and understanding of the culture.
“The Korean government rebuilt the country by putting money into exporting culture — music, television, movies.”
Americans, he said, are quite familiar with the K-pop superstars BTS, the most popular band in the world. Then, among other works, there is Squid Game, the dystopian thriller TV series, as well as the black-comedy film Parasite, Richards said.
“The government succeeded, as people were attracted to what South Korea has exported.”
A key to the appeal of Korean entertainment is that humility, a national trait, stands out among actors and musical artists, Richards said. Also, he noted, “you won’t see Korean artists putting themselves forward.”
“Pop stars say ‘we,’ not ‘I,’” Richards said.
Korea’s new role in the American zeitgeist is remarkable, said Nani Shin, executive director of the Philadelphia Asian American Film Foundation, whose organization was tabling at the Chuseok event.
“No one in the 1970s knew where Korea was,” Shin, who was born in South Korea, said. “Now, the culture isn’t only known, but celebrated. It’s wild.”
It is important to remember, however, that Koreans look to keep their traditions alive for themselves and their children.
“That’s why I’m here,” said Will Press, 43, who stood outside the event Saturday. He married a Korean woman, he said, which means “she, and I, want our children to know that Korea is part of their heritage.”
