by Alex Lloyd Gross
There is a complex on the 3500 block of Bristol Pike in Bensalem Township that is home to juvenile criminals that committed crimes in Philadelphia. Two of them, Daniel Rosa, 15, Park Avenue Bensalem and Tharyn Battis Jr., 18 were just arrested and charged with robbery. , Robbery of a Motor Vehicle, Persons Not to Possess a Firearm, Theft, Receiving Stolen Property, Conspiracy, and related charges.
Daniel Rosa was charged as an adult.On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, Tharyn Battis was arraigned by District Justice Joseph Falcone and remanded to the Bucks County Correctional Facility on 10% of $3,000,000 bail. Daniel Rosa was arrested at his home, arraigned by District Justice Joseph Falcone, and remanded to the Bucks County Youth Center (Edison) on 10% of $5,000,000 bail, police said.
Police reported an uptick in crimes surrounding this area and sections of Eddington that involve thefts of vehicles and vehicle break-ins. A woman was carjacked on Oak Ct on December 2 2024 about 4:15 AM. when an armed gunman ordered her from her Honda Pilot, which was recovered a short while later abandoned. Police stopped short of saying the two were involved, but that incident is still being investigated.
A Rav 4 was stolen December 3 from Magnolia Court. When officers spotted the vehicle, the driver, 15 year old Daniel Rosa allegedly rammed a police van. Police pursued the vehicle, and the passenger bailed out of the car near Byberry and Knights Roads and ran into a wooded area. The subject, later identified as Tharyn Battis Jr., 18 years old, continued reaching towards his waistband while running away.
Police were able to take Battis into custody at gunpoint. He was identified as a resident of the St. Francis Home for Children on Bristol Pike in Bensalem. A K-9 track was performed, and police
discovered a Glock 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, Battis’s cell phone, a vape pen, and a pocket knife in the wooded area where Battis was taken into custody. The unoccupied, stolen Toyota Rav 4 was recovered in the 300 block of Penguin Drive a short time later. The Glock handgun is registered to a Bensalem resident and was reported stolen from a township resident on Thanksgiving.
Bensalem Police did not want to comment on this except to they say had multiple criminal contacts with residents of the St. Francis Home for Children on Bristol Pike and found that staff has little or no control over them. It was discovered that several residents of St. Francis Home for Children went AWOL simultaneously at 2:59 am on Monday, just before the car jacking happened. Police said that staff would only admit that Battis was missing. Police were not available to answer questions about if the staff at the home or the Arch Diocese would be held accountable . The diocese is the owner of the home and responsible for overseeing it.