Grand Jury Indicts Teen in West Philadelphia Kidnap-Rape of Five Year Old
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Philadelphia grand jury today indicted a day care worker in connection with last January's abduction of a five-year-old girl from her West Philadelphia kindergarten class.
The Philadelphia district attorney's office took the case to an indicting grand jury, which has named 19-year-old Christina Regusters -- and so far only her -- in 11 counts related to that abduction last January 14th.
The case caused repercussions at Bryant Elementary School and across the Philadelphia school district after the girl (now age six) was permitted to leave the school with a woman in a hijab posing as her mother (see related story).
The little girl was found the next day about four blocks away, shivering and hiding in an Upper Darby playground (see related story).
The charges include aggravated assault, kidnapping, involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, unlawful contact, restraint of a minor, and false imprisonment.
Defense lawyer Fred Harrison, who says he won't receive a copy of the indictment until Regusters faces her arraignment on May 20th, maintains that his client was not a major participant in the incident. He said the crime scene evidence is Regusters' DNA found on the girl, but notes that the young victim attended a day care center where Regusters worked.
And lawyer Tom Kline, who represents the little girl and her mother, agrees that others will or should be charged.
