Philly Girl Taken From School Found Outside City

Darby said the suspect went into the school Monday a short time after the girl’s mother had dropped her off there. The woman signed in with a hall monitor — using an illegible signature — and then went straight to the girl’s classroom. “She indicated that she was the child’s mother,” Darby said. “And that she was going to take the child to breakfast.”

The suspect apparently knew and targeted the girl, Darby said, but the girl did not know her. However, she appeared to go willingly.

Police are looking for the suspect and trying to track down more information. Upper Darby police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said it appears the girl was driven or walked to the playground. Investigators are trying to track down surveillance footage from the area.

“We believe that the little girl was dumped here,” Chitwood said.

Fernando Gallard, a spokesman for the school district, said the district is investigating. Under the school’s policy, he said, the woman should have signed in at the door and then gone straight to the office — not the classroom. “The exchange does not happen at the classroom level,” he said.

The district is investigating the incident and reviewing its policies with school employees, Gallard said.

In a different incident at the same school, three 10- and 11-year-old boys were charged in November 2011 after reportedly sexually assaulting another boy in the restroom.

Myers, the rescuer, was on his way to work when he heard the girl’s cries, and his thoughts turned to his own 5-year-old daughter.

“I just wanted to do the same thing someone would do for my child,” he said.

(Photo: AP)