September 19, 2017
A Philadelphia man has been charged in connection with a string of attempted child luring incidents last week in Northeast Philadelphia.
Marwan Deeb, 35, of the 800 block of Fanshawe Street, Lawndale, was charged Monday with four counts of luring a child into a motor vehicle and four counts of corruption of a minor.
Deeb has been charged in three of six incidents reported last week near schools in Northeast Philadelphia.
In each case, victims described the perpetrator as a Hispanic male with short, black hair, police said. He allegedly was driving a black vehicle with tinted windows.
Deeb surrendered Monday after police executed two search warrants, Captain Mark Burgmann said. They also recovered his vehicle – a black, four-door Honda with heavily tinted windows.
As police investigated the alleged incidents, Burgmann said they went back into older cases looking for similar tendencies and descriptions.
They found a similar case from February when Deeb was considered a person of interest, Burgmann said. But Deeb was not identified by witnesses.
Deeb is accused of approaching students as they left school along the 400 block of Tomlinson Road in Somerton at 3:15 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 12. The students claimed Deeb offered them cash if they got into the back of his SUV, according to police.
He also allegedly approached an 8-year-old girl on Friday as she was walking to school along the 4900 block of Ditman Street in Frankford at 8 a.m. Deeb allegedly showed the girl money and a camera before asking if he could take her picture for money. The girl ran to school and told an adult, police said.
Several minutes later, Deeb allegedly approached another 10-year-old girl and made the same request. The girl did not respond and ran to Sullivan Elementary School, where she told an adult, police said.
Police are still investigating the Deeb in connection to other attempted child lurings, but Burgmann said he could not provide details at this time. Police are withholding Deeb's mugshot while those investigations play out.
"We don't want to unduly influence anybody we may be showing photos to," Burgmann said.
Three other attempted child luring were reported in Northeast Philly last week.
Another attempted child luring was reported Sunday in nearby Lower Southampton Township, but Philadelphia police said they have not connected that incident to any of the others.
Deeb is being held on $200,000 bail. He does not have any prior sex offenses.
