Man Asked About Pennsbury High Security Systems: PD

FALLS TOWNSHIP, PA — A township man is in custody after wandering around Pennsbury High School East on Tuesday morning, telling police that he wanted to check the building's security systems, court records state.

The Falls Township Police Department charged Christopher R. Rushforth, 36, of the township's Levittown section, with criminal trespassing and defiant trespassing after displaying erratic behavior on school grounds.

Rushforth was preliminarily arraigned before District Judge John Galloway on Tuesday and sent to the Bucks County Correctional Facility on 10 percent of $150,000 bail.

Falls Township Police responded to the high school at 7:15 a.m. Tuesday after a school employee was approached by a man driving a black sedan who asked about the students, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Patch.

The high school cafeteria worker told police that Rushforth, who was wearing a camouflage shirt, was seen pacing around school property and mumbling to himself.

Police said Rushforth reportedly asked about transgender students and the safety of the school. The employee said Rushforth was acting erratically and appeared to be under the influence of narcotics or experiencing a mental health episode, the criminal complaint states.

He then jumped into a car, circled the school parking lot twice, and then left on Hood Boulevard, police said.

Another school employee told police that Rushforth approached students arriving for basketball practice, asking them about the high school’s security system and if he could come inside with them.

The students refused and notified the employee, police said.

Police found Rushforth standing at the corner entrance to the Pennsbury High School East Campus and Hood Boulevard. He attempted to flee, but was apprehended, the complaint states.

He apparently told police that he was worried about the school’s security systems, due to an influx of drugs, and was concerned about the students, police said.

Police said a rambling Rushforth told them he was a “citizen of earth” and that “God put him here for a reason.”

The criminal complaint states that police believed Rushforth was suffering from a mental health incident. He later told police that he reportedly suffers from psychosis and had not slept in a few days, the complaint states.