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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania – Mariana Chilton PhD is a college professor by day at Drexel University in Philadelphia, and a suspected thief in the night in an upscale suburb. She faces charges in Montgomery County Court for swiping pro-Israel signs from a neighboring synagogue and a private home.
The Drexel University professor and her two accomplices…excuse me, make that alleged accomplices…displayed a remarkable sense of humor by first allegedly admitting to a police officer that they stole the signs, and then suggesting they could resolve the matter by returning them to their rightful owners. They even asked why the officer needed their identification.
Drexel has placed the professor, 56-year-old Mariana Chilton, on administrative leave, according to The Algemeiner website.
Boulder was treated to such juvenile conduct during a weekly solidarity walk for Israeli hostages held by Hamas. As Rachel Amaru points out in a letter reprinted in The Boulder Jewish News, a less ambitious thief in the day snatched an Israeli flag carried by an elderly Jewish woman and ran away with it. “We could not find them.” This was reported to the police.
Amaru’s letter was sent to Mayor Brockett as part of a request to vote for a resolution against antisemitism.
Chilton is a professor of health management and policy, and director of the Center for Hunger-Free Communities which focuses on developing solutions to the challenges of hunger and economic insecurity, according to Drexel’s biography of Chilton. She holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Oklahoma and Harvard. She has testified before Congress about child nutrition and other anti-poverty policies and authored or collaborated on more than 20 papers.
Her education on state criminal law and Middle East history is wanting. She does not seem to understand that citizens are prohibited by law from stealing the property of others. Unlike its judgment for presidents, the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to rule that professors are above the law.
People stopped by police usually need no explanation for why an officer asks for identification, especially after they have admitted to committing a crime.
Referencing to a criminal complaint, local TV station NBC10 reported last week that the police officer spotted a white Honda CRV stopped at a curb outside Main Line Reform Temple in Lower Merion’s Wynnewood section – one of the wealthiest nabes in the nation – at 12:58 a.m. on Nov. 24, 2023, and saw two women walking toward the SUV. They were later identified as Sarah Prickett, 39, of Wynnewood, and Sam Penn, 25, of New York.
The officer approached the Honda and found the pair inside the vehicle along with Chilton, also of Wynnewood, and several pro-Israel signs. The Drexel prof herself told the officer, “We are just taking them because we feel like it is a representative of genocide,” as NBC10 quotes from the criminal complaint.
If true, Chilton admitted that she committed a crime.
All three were arrested, and Chilton’s case is currently in the pre-trial stage in Montgomery County Court. Her charges include conspiracy, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property, according to NBC10. Prickett and Penn were charged with theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property and criminal trespassing.
Our Drexel prof proposed a resolution when the officer told them that the signs belonged to the synagogue and that they had stolen them. NBC10 reported that Chilton allegedly responded, “Do you know what we can do sir, is we can just put them back.”
Somewhat of a parallel there with Hamas demanding a cease-fire after murdering 1,200 Jews in southern Israel on Oct. 7. True, Chilton’s alleged crime was by means gruesome. It was just too silly for words. But police claim that she still committed a crime and in so many words she says let’s forget it if they return the signs to their proper places. It would save taxpayers time and expense in court. Don’t the police do that for everyone else?
Likewise, the thief in Boulder committed a crime.
The trio allegedly became uncooperative when he asked for their identification as they questioned his reason for seeking their information, according to NBC10.
The confiscated signs were identified by its owners. Homeowner Stephen Chopnick told police that his two “We Stand With Israel” signs were stolen from his property, and the synagogue’s executive director identified pro-Israel signs that were taken from the shul’s property.
The pro-Israel signs heist befits more the acts of bratty teens than three adult women who should know better.
As quoted in The Algemeiner, Drexel president John Fry said in a statement that Chilton “has been placed on administrative leave while the university evaluate(s) all the circumstances surrounding the allegations in light of relevant policies while also assessing the impact on Drexel’s educational program.”
He added, “While Professor Chilton is entitled to the presumption of innocence, the alleged actions for which she has been criminally charged are deeply troubling.”
Fry rates credit for the university’s reaction to Chilton’s arrest. I wonder what Drexel will do if she is convicted. Authorities need to forcefully prosecute and sentence them to the max if they are found guilty. How else can we deter these offenders? My educated guess is that county authorities will not drop or minimize charges against them as happened in Manhattan over more serious offenses.
Montgomery County is likewise governed by Democrats, and the county is a mix of liberal and conservative with a large Jewish population close to the border with Philadelphia. The synagogue is located a few miles from the city. Democrats in major cities have been soft on pro-Arab criminals, no doubt out of fear of alienating them during a close presidential election year.
Chilton did not make clear what she meant by “genocide,” but she is likely referring to Israeli assaults that have killed substantial numbers of civilians in Gaza. That word, genocide, misrepresents Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 massacre in which Palestinian terrorists sought to eliminate Jews, which comports with the definition of genocide.
Israel’s response in Gaza is a legitimate issue that concerns even American Jews who staunchly support Israel. I do not understand it and wonder if Israel is doing what is necessary. However, team Chilton has more than enough access to legal means to protest Israel’s actions. Critics of Israel have freedom of speech which they can employ without stealing signs or flags, setting up illegal encampments or occupying a university building.
If they must make off with pro-Israel signs, can they be equitable about it? Are they willing to remove signs that declare “globalize intifada” or “Free Palestine?”
This piece reveals that some Jews in the US may have become a secuity threat to Israel.