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 Sean Benschop, center, with red jacket over his head, walks with investigators as he arrives at the Philadelphia Police Department's Central Detectives Division, Saturday June 8, 2013, in Center City Philadelphia. Benschop, the heavy equipment operator with a lengthy rap sheet accused of being high on marijuana when a downtown building collapsed onto a thrift store, killing six people, turned himself in on Saturday to face charges in the deaths, police said. (AP Photo/ Joseph Kaczmarek) 
 
 The excavator operator charged in the deaths of six people at a Salvation Army thrift store in Center City turned himself in to police Saturday. Sean Benschop, 43, refused to give a statement on his role in Wednesday’s collapse, choosing instead to exercise his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. He will be arraigned, police said — it’s unclear when — and an investigation will continue, they said. Benschop’s arrival at Central Detectives headquarters, just off the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on North 21st Street, capped several days of scrutiny surrounding the Hunting Park resident. He was charged with six counts of involuntary manslaughter, 13 counts of recklessly endangering another person, and one count of risking a catastrophe, police said. At the time of the collapse, he was working for Griffin T. Campbell, the contractor hired by property owner Richard C. Basciano to tear down a four-story building next to the thrift store. On Wednesday, the remaining portion of that building collapsed during demolition and fell onto the store. There were 20 people inside. 
 
 Salvation Army employees Kimberly Finnegan and Borbor Davis and shoppers Juanita Harmon, Mary Simpson, Anne Bryan, and Roseline Conteh were killed. Fourteen others were injured. One survivor, Myra Plekan, spent more than 12 hours in the rubble before she was rescued by firefighters. 
 
 Sunday at noon, experts retained by the law firm Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett & Bendesky will be inspecting the site for evidence. The firm filed suit against the owner and contractor on behalf of Nadine White, a Salvation Army store clerk who survived. 
 
 According to a toxicology report, Benschop, of the 4900 block of North Seventh Street, had marijuana in his system at levels showing "he was unfit to perform safety-sensitive, job-related duties." 
 
 The report found it "reasonably scientifically certain" that Benschop was an "active recent user of marijuana." 
 
 Benschop has a long criminal record, with 11 arrests and 16 Traffic Court convictions. He served two terms in prison on drug charges in the 1990s. 
 
 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials sought to deport him to his native Guyana in 2005, but an immigration judge allowed him to remain in the country, according to an ICE official. The agency sought to remove Benschop because of his convictions on drug charges, said the official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to release the information. He declined to say why the judge rejected the request, noting that such details of cases are confidential. The hearing occurred in York, according to another source familiar with the proceedings. 
 
 The case was not unusual. ICE routinely moves to deport immigrants who have been convicted of crimes in this country. 
 
 Contact Aubrey Whelan at 610-313-8112, awhelan@philly.com, or follow on Twitter @aubreyjwhelan. 
 
 Inquirer staff writers Andrew Seidman and John Martin contributed to this report. 

 A heavy equipment operator accused of being high on marijuana when a downtown building collapsed onto a thrift store, killing six people, turned himself in on Saturday to face charges in the deaths, police said. 
 
 In this photo provided by Jordan McLaughlin, a dust cloud rises as people run from the scene of a building collapse on the edge of downtown Philadelphia on Wednesday, June 5, 2013. Buoyed by the discovery... (Associated Press) 
 
 A warrant had been issued for the arrest of Sean Benschop on six counts of involuntary manslaughter, 13 counts of recklessly endangering another person and one count of risking a catastrophe. 
 
 Authorities believe the 42-year-old Benschop had been using an excavator Wednesday when the remains of the four-story building gave way and toppled onto an attached Salvation Army thrift store, killing two employees and four customers and injuring 13 others. 
 
 Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison told The Associated Press on Friday evening that a toxicology report showed evidence that Benschop was high on marijuana. That finding, combined with witness statements and evidence from the scene, led to the decision Friday to raid his North Philadelphia home and later seek an arrest warrant, he said. 
 
 Benschop didn't return phone messages left at numbers listed in his name, though he told The Philadelphia Inquirer on Thursday that he couldn't comment because of the investigation. 
 
 Benschop, who also goes by the name Kary Roberts, has been arrested at least 11 times since 1994 on charges ranging from drugs to theft to weapons possession, according to court records. He was twice sentenced to prison in the 1990s after being convicted on drug trafficking charges. Benschop's last arrest, on a charge of aggravated assault, came in January 2012, but the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. 
 
 As the criminal investigation heated up, at least two survivors sued the demolition contractor and building owner, alleging gross recklessness at the job site. 
 
 The city, meanwhile, promised to crack down on the demolition industry. 
 
 "We can do much better," Mayor Michael Nutter said at a news conference Friday. "We will not accept the status quo in the face of this tragedy." 
 
 Nutter's reform plan for construction sites includes random drug testing on heavy equipment operators. 
 
 The mayor also pledged to adopt tougher background requirements for demolition contractors, including information about each worker's experience, and more frequent site inspections when demolitions are under way. 
 
 His plan could run into resistance from builders who say they are already highly regulated. 
 
 "I think that before we do anything, before we rush to any judgment about how to fix what happened, we have to have all the facts," said Steven Lakin, executive managing director of the General Building Contractors Association, a trade group representing Philadelphia-area contractors. 
 
 Lawyers for the two survivors who have sued accuse demolition contractor Griffin Campbell _ who has a criminal background and has filed for bankruptcy twice _ of violating federal safety regulations. They say building owner Richard Basciano should have picked a more qualified and competent contractor to do the work. 
 
 No one answered the phone at a listing for Campbell on Saturday, and the voice mailbox was full. 
 
 Construction engineers have said the thrift store should have been evacuated during critical phases of the demolition project next door. 
 
 The Salvation Army was concerned enough about the demolition that its attorneys reached out to a lawyer for building owner STB Investments Corp., a company linked to Basciano. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Rubinkam reported from northeastern Pennsylvania. Associated Press writer Keith Collins contributed to this report.
– Sean Benschop, the crane operator behind the stick in the Philadelphia building collapse that killed six and injured 14 this week, turned himself in to police today after a warrant was issued for his arrest. Benschop—who may have been high at the time of the accident—will be charged with six counts of involuntary manslaughter, 13 counts of recklessly endangering another person, and one count of risking a catastrophe, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. Involuntary manslaughter is a first-degree misdemeanor, but the latter is a felony. Benschop has been arrested 11 times and served two prison stints since 1994, with charges including drugs, theft, and possession of weapons, reports the AP.