Main Line Teacher Posed as Teen Online to Lure Girls

Former Harriton High School English teacher Jeremy Schobel, who posed as a teen online to lure girls (photo via Lower Merion School District)

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Main Line Teacher Jeremy Schobel Posed as Teen Online to Lure Girls

The Harriton High School community was shocked last year after the feds arrested English teacher Jeremy Schobel, charging him with illicit sexual conduct and manufacture and attempted manufacture of child pornography.

Prosecutors claimed that Schobel, 32, used the social media app Yubo to groom girls online. According to the complaint filed in the case, Schobel posed as “sophiavan423″ and “jillmoreno,” two non-existent underage girls looking for relationships with other underage girls, and lured girls into sending him explicit videos and photos.

After the FBI arrested Schobel at his Point Breeze home last June, he “advised agents that he had committed these crimes for years, and communicated with many underaged girls. … ” according to court records. Investigators were able to trace some of Schobel’s online activity to an IP address at the Harriton High School campus in Bryn Mawr.

Yesterday, the case came to a close when Schobel pleaded guilty in federal court to six of the counts in the indictment against him. Schobel had originally denied that any of the girls involved were Harriton High School students, and in a statement shortly after his arrest, the Lower Merion school district, of which Harriton High is a part, said it was “not aware of any inappropriate interactions between Mr. Schobel and LMSD students.” It turns out that was untrue: Schobel admitted that at least one of his victims was a Harriton student.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 25th. The minimum sentence for Schobel’s crimes is 15 years.

PennDOT Finally Fixing Potholes

If you haven’t noticed, the roads suck, in no small part thanks to potholes. Fortunately, PennDOT has announced that it’s about to start fixing 50 pothole-ravaged state roads. Given that potholes are caused by fluctuations in temperature during winter, it appears that PennDOT officials are betting that this springlike weather is going to stick around. All I’m saying is that we once got close to 20 inches of snow over two days in April. Granted, that was 1915. But still. And note that these repairs are only on major roads managed by PennDOT If you’ve got potholes on your residential street in Philly, blame the Streets Department.

Jason Kelce and his Mummers hat (Getty Images)

Remember Jason Kelce’s Amazing Mummers Hat?

Yes, the one he wore during his also amazing Super Bowl victory speech. Well, James May, the guy who made that hat, came out of retirement to fill orders for fans who wanted their own. He’s made 4,000 of them since. And now he’s calling it quits, alongside Kelce. If you haven’t yet got your hat, you still have time. May is accepting orders until the end of April.

By the Numbers

2: Suspects still sought by the Philadelphia police department in last week’s disturbing Northeast Philly bus-stop shooting, in which eight students were shot. Police have made two arrests in the case. On Monday afternoon, Mayor Parker and other city officials spoke out about the violence.

$158 million: Federal funding secured for the so-called Chinatown Stitch project. This is a cap in Chinatown over two and a half blocks of the Vine Street Expressway, a roadway that currently divides the neighborhood in the fugliest of ways. The cap will eventually include a lovely public park space, among other features.

$1,192,632.50: Value of a winning Pennsylvania Lottery ticket sold in Manayunk on Saturday. That can buy a helluva lotta pies at Pizza Jawn.

Local Talent

Do you know the name Paul Marturano? I’m going to say probably not. But if you religiously watched American Idol in its earlier days, you would almost certainly remember the Delco native.

He showed up for an audition in front of judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul and promptly sang a song he had written about being Paula Abdul’s stalker. Looking back, it was an incredibly creepy tune. But this was 2008, and it was generally taken as a funny moment and wound up going viral. Ten years later, there’s no way American Idol would have aired the clip, let alone today. And in a terrible coincidence, an actual Paula Abdul stalker died by suicide later that same year. And Marturano’s family started getting calls from news publications, with reporters thinking that he was the dead stalker.

Why am I telling you all this? Because we heard from Marturano the other day. And he’s hoping to mount a bit of a “comeback” with a song called “Delco Girl” that’s going to be in the supposedly upcoming film Delco: The Movie. (Bit of Delco trivia: It turns out this isn’t the first time somebody has written a song about the ladies of Delco. There’s a song called “Delco Girls.” Note the plural. And who can forget the huge hit “Delco Barbie” from 2008?)

As for his 15 minutes of cringey fame? “People with good senses of humor understand the whole American Idol thing was a practical joke,” Marturano tells me today. “It was over 15 years ago, back when I was doing comedy.” Right, because “Delco Girl” is such a serious tune.

And From the Busy-as-a-Bird Sports Desk …

In Iggles news, former Giant and Penn State alum Saquon Barkley is an Eagle now:

https://twitter.com/saquon/status/1767259756824047781

And D’Andre Swift isn’t. Also headed our way from the Empire State: defensive end Bryce Huff. And our own Landon Dickerson just became the highest-paid guard in NFL history with his new four-year contract extension.

Not Going ANYWHERE! @Eagles @_SportsTrust #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/Rg01hHNqJ7

— Landon Dickerson (@Landon_2012) March 11, 2024

Do the Sixers Play?

They do, and it’s a rematch with the Knicks tonight in our house, with a 7 p.m. start. We managed to beat them on Sunday without Joel Embiid or Tyrese Maxey; tonight we’ll have Maxey back!

Tyrese Maxey has been cleared from concussion protocol. pic.twitter.com/OUcMUbfbtf

— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) March 11, 2024

How’d the Phils Do?

Welp, they lost to the Yankees, 2-1. That’s the bad news. In the better news, starter Zack Wheeler pitched three scoreless, hitless innings (though he did walk two batters). Luis Ortiz allowed the two runs on three hits, in the eighth inning.

Any Doop News?

Oh yeah. Rematch here tonight, too, of the Union vs. Pachuca, starting at 8:15; the two already played to a scoreless tie at Subaru Park last Tuesday. If the Union get a tie with a score this time, they’ll advance to the finals of the Champions Cup by dint of having more on-the-road goals. Julián Carranza will be back from his injury for the game, which is being played at Mexico’s Estadio Hidalgo, which boasts (?) the second-highest altitude of any Mexican stadium. Breathe deep, guys, and doop!

And in College Hoops?

Tournaments start tomorrow for everyone but Drexel, which lost to Stony Brook on Sunday in the CAA’s first round.

The Flyers also play.

All Philly Today sports coverage is provided by Sandy Hingston.