As confirmed by a reliable source of mine who is on the city’s payroll, a man was abducted, kidnapped and robbed this weekend in Harrisburg.
Shortly after 9PM this past Saturday the 17th of January, a man was returning to his home on Cumberland Street between second and third which is, incidentally, the block where Mayor Stephen Reed resides. 
Two thugs approached the man- one Hispanic and one black- and asked him for directions to a halfway house.
Before the man knew what was happening, he had a gun in his ribs and was being forced into his own car when he was driven to an ATM machine and instructed to withdraw the maximum amount of cash allowed.
The man was then forced into the trunk of his car, driven around the city for a period of time and escaped when the thugs parked somewhere in Allison Hill and left the car unattended.
The victim is described as a regular, honest, taxpaying citizen.
(This entry is being posted at 11:40AM on Monday the 19th of January. At post-time, there is nary a mention of this heinous crime on PennLive or within the pages of the Patriot News.)
I’m not an apologist for newspapers and their websites if they are truly missing stories. But as a former reporter and editor, you can only report what you know about. And let’s be fair: Cops in Pennsylvania are reluctant to release information about crimes for fear of compromising an investigation. I don’t think blame is placed squarely on The Patriot-News for this story not appearing.
I understand and can respect that, Jeff, but I’m tired of the “compromising an investigation” argument.
The information I got is the exact same information that was blasted out to hundreds of Midtown residents through crime watch newsletters.
I don’t think that anything contained in this post could possibly compromise an investigation.
And yes, I understand that The PN (or ANY newspaper for that matter) cannot possibly report on ALL crimes- but when it’s a public safety issue- when someone who’s arriving HOME at 9PM on a Saturday who is, essentially, the Mayor’s neighbor- gets stuffed into the trunk of their own car and driven to an ATM machine, I’d call that a public safety issue and the public SHOULD be alerted.
And it’s not the cops who release the information. I’ve been told point-blank that unless Coulter or Reed issues a press release, then the Patriot will not run it.
When there are other cities who have access to crime reports on a daily (or even HOURLY basis) it leaves me frustrated that we have such a hard time distributing potentially life-saving information to the public.
Hey Mike,
AtomicAger, here.
be careful what you write about the patriot, you may be banned or deleted from their forums. I was deleted, yesterday from the hbg. forum of pennlive, because i started a topic on why entire blocks of posts were being deleted ans asked if the moderator might be racist.
It’s seems one is NOT ALLOWED to question why posts are deleted.
The flood of ads, in the patriot is one reason I’m canveling my subscription. I’m tired of the bias after subscribing to the rag the rag, for almost 30 years.
the even turned the auto death of the son of a carpet business into a sort of mini ad, for the carpet store.
Keep up your good reporting work ! I’d liketo see a follow up story on the “squatters/homeless guys, by Reily St., if you have time.
Thanks
Excuse my spelling. I’ve been spoiled by spell checkers and tend to make mistakes typing with one finger when angered by
injustices.
That should read CANCELING.