Watch your babies

[Arrow]

It's not the world of the 50's it is not even the world of the 80's our little ones can not run unhindered through the neighborhoods and fields. If you or another trusted adult can not see them they are not safe. I constantly observe parents giving their children credit for knowledge they do not have. Forgetting their innocence and the propensity to trust know matter how many times you tell them there is evil in this world. Understanding evil only comes through experience. Watch your babies.

Pair Arrested in Philadelphia Kidnapping
Thursday, July 25, 2002

PHILADELPHIA ? The two men sought in the kidnapping of 7-year-old Erica Pratt were arrested early Thursday, police said.

James Burns, 29, and Edward Johnson, 23, were arrested around 5:30 a.m. in southwest Philadelphia, not far from where Erica was snatched Monday night while playing with her 5-year-old sister in front of their grandmother's rowhouse, police said.

The brave little girl chewed through duct tape to escape Tuesday night, nearly 24 hours after she was abducted, police said.

Burns and Johnson were being treated for scrapes suffered when they tried to elude police in a foot chase, authorities said. The men live near some members of Erica's family and were known to the family, officers said.

The men's names were provided by two witnesses to the kidnapping, police said. The two suspects would be officially processed later in the morning, authorities said.

Police have said the girl's grandmother and primary caregiver, Barbara Pratt, received at least six calls from a man who threatened to kill the girl unless he received a $150,000 ransom.

Neighbors said there had been a rumor in the neighborhood that her family had recently come into a lot of money.

But the Pratts are far from wealthy, family members and neighbors said. Their home, a small blue-and-white brick rowhouse, sits on a block peppered with abandoned buildings.

"They don't have $150,000. There's not $150,000 in this whole neighborhood," said Mannwell Glenn, a friend of the family who has been acting as their spokesman.

"This whole thing was a misunderstanding and misinformation that got blown out of proportion and a little 7-year-old girl got caught up in it," Glenn said.

Some said the girl's uncle had died, leaving behind a lucrative life insurance policy. Others said a relative who owned a record label had just signed a contract with Death Row Records, a major rap label.

One of the girl's uncles, Joseph Pratt Jr., was shot dead in his car in March. But family members said there was no life insurance.

Another uncle, Derrick Pratt, is the chief executive of an independent rap record label, CP Entertainment, and had briefly been in talks with Death Row ? but no deal and no financial windfall was in the works, Glenn said.

By mid-afternoon Wednesday, Erica was racing through her old neighborhood, smiling, waving to reporters and playing tag with friends who a day earlier had been talking solemnly about a playmate who might never return.

Dressed in bright pink, with barrettes in her hair, Erica fidgeted in the arms of a relative and buried her face in a stuffed animal when asked to talk.

Police said she suffered only minor injuries in her ordeal and relatives said she was recovering well.

"She seems totally normal," uncle Joseph Moore Jr. said. "If she's forgotten about what happened, I'd just as soon it would stay forgotten."

Authorities said Erica described an extraordinary getaway from the two men:

She was bound with duct tape around her arms, legs and eyes and left in the dirty basement of a building 10 miles from home. She was able to gnaw her way through the tape, break through the basement door and go up to the first floor. Unable to escape, she smashed a window and called out for help to some children playing in front of the abandoned house.

The children pulled Erica out of the window, and one of them rode their bike to alert the police, Lt. Michael Chitwood said.

News of Erica's escape came a day after a man was charged with kidnapping and killing 5-year-old Samantha Runnion of Stanton, Calif. It also follows the high-profile kidnappings of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart in Salt Lake City and of two San Diego children, 7-year-old Danielle van Dam and 2-year-old Jahi Turner. Elizabeth and Jahi remain missing; Danielle was slain.

Police said Erica had only a can of water during her ordeal, and the officers who found her gave her part of a chicken sandwich.

"She's an amazing little girl," Chief Inspector Robert Davis said.

[Arrow]

the two assholes that need to be taken out of the gene pool

[PHO127]

and not enough "bleeding hearts" My beloved grandmother once remarked that " What we need is a good ol' street hangin, that would stop some of this nonsense." My grandmother was born in Oklahoma "Indian Territory" in 1898.

[Arrow]

I seriously believe that is exactly what we need...

[phuloi]

What scares me so much is that the little girls are reacting in the correct manner,ie:kicking and screaming and raising hell and people ignore it!"Thought it was a domestic thing..didn`t want to get involved."Watch ME get involved! I would take great pleasure in relieving the pervert of his balls with hollow-point from my .41 Magnum

[phuloi]

PS.......pho127.Was your Grandmother Cherokee?A genocidal horror show-marching all those people to "Injun Country."Makes me ashamed

[Arrow]

Griz regard the Trail of Tears...me too..

[PHO127]

Came along with the Cherokee, but tribe was in Alabama, Missippi and Louisanna. One white guy to many to claim Indian Rights.

[thedrifter]

The suspects were caught early this morning only a few miles in a wooded area from where the little girl was found...

Erica is doing real well....just was hungry at first, but is running around and playing with her friends.....like nothing ever happened....

They put this little girl in danger, because of a drug war that is going on between the families.....
No regards for Life.....

Sempers,

Roger