State drug sting ends up on Penn's campus

Troopers followed men accused of dealing crack to the Penn Tower Hotel. An undercover narcotics sting came to a climax inside the lobby of the Penn Tower Hotel yesterday afternoon when Pennsylvania State Police troopers arrested an alleged crack dealer, police said. About a dozen officers had been chasing the man and a companion in a blue Dodge on Interstate 76 when the men exited the highway at University Avenue and drove north on Civic Center Boulevard to the hotel at about 3:45 p.m., police added. The suspect exited the vehicle and ran into the lobby, while his companion, a 6'3" man in his mid-20s, sped off, according to police and witnesses. He knocked over two road signs in the process, then ran north on 37th Street after abandoning the car at 36th and Spruce streets, police said. Police had not arrested the suspect as of late last night. According to witnesses, the first man was taken into custody by the State Police almost immediately after he entered the lobby. The State Police would not disclose any information on the man's identity yesterday. Minutes later, about 20 state, city and University police officers gathered at the scene, witnesses said. "[The suspect] ran in, and immediately there were eight security guards on him," said a female employee working in the hotel gift shop who asked to remain anonymous. "Then the state troopers came in and scooped him up really quick." The State Police, who are currently investigating the incident, would not say how much crack the suspect allegedly had or whether the suspect was wanted for any other crimes. The Philadelphia Police Department has an extensive narcotics division and a detective with the University Police said state troopers "do normally stay out of the city." He added, however, that it is "not necessarily unusual" for State Police to handle such an incident. The drug bust comes one month after a University Health System secretary was brutally assaulted by a burglar on the sixth floor of the Penn Tower. Last week, University Police arrested South Philadelphia resident Larry Ray, 28, for the January 19 assault. It was unclear why the suspect chose to run into the Penn Tower Hotel yesterday. Several employees working inside the building seemed shocked and bewildered that news cameras and sirens were once again bombarding their hotel. "Oh, God. I don't want to know," said a Health System employee working on the third floor of the building after being told of the incident. "Don't tell me." But the gift-shop employee said the building's rigid security -- which has been upgraded significantly following the January 19 assault -- ensured that the suspect would not get far. "I've never seen so many security guards around here, and I've worked here three years," she said. "They mostly just stand there, [but otherwise] you would be taking your chances around here."