ALLENTOWN, Pa. — An Allentown man accused in a fatal stabbing this summer at a hookah lounge is scheduled to be formally arraigned next month.
Isiah Yeager, 24, was due to be arraigned Dec. 13, but that hearing was postponed until Jan. 10, according to court documents.
Yeager faces a single charge of criminal homicide.
Prosecutors allege he stabbed Kevin Tarafa, 29, multiple times during a fight early June 18 inside Synergy Hookah Lounge, 1522 Union Blvd.
Tarafa, of Bethlehem, was found unresponsive about a block away in the 1600 block of East Greenleaf Street, where he was pronounced dead, according to authorities.
Yeager was arrested the same day and charged with homicide. He has been in Lehigh County Jail without bail since his arrest, court documents show.
Yeager has not yet entered a formal plea because he has not been arraigned in county court, though he pleaded not guilty at a preliminary hearing in October, according to First Assistant District Attorney Gavin Holihan, who was elected last month as Lehigh County's next top prosecutor.
Synergy shut down
The fatal stabbing at Synergy Hookah Lounge led to the business’ eventual closure.
While pointing out a trail of blood that led several hundred feet from the lounge to the edge of a neighborhood where Tarafa was found, landlord John “Buzzy” Labriola vowed to kick the hookah lounge out of his property as soon as possible.
He told LehighValleyNews.com in June that the lounge’s lease expired several weeks before Tarafa’s death, but he allowed the business to stay while seeking another location.
“Tomorrow, I’m going to the magistrate to speed it up,” Labriola said June 19. “This is the last straw. I want them out.”
The next day, Labriola filed a landlord-tenant complaint against Synergy Hookah Lounge owner and operator Stefhon Buchanan.
“We're not going to let it continue; we're going to put a stop to this activity. We're not going to let Union Boulevard become ‘Hookah Row’ or ‘After-Hours Row.’Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk in June
Two hearings were scheduled but public records indicate neither was held. A district judge dismissed Labriola’s complaint against Buchanan on July 19, just over a month after the fatal stabbing, according to court records.
It’s unclear exactly when Synergy Hookah Lounge closed and how Labriola and Buchanan resolved their dispute.
Online listings in September showed Synergy Hookah Lounge permanently closed, while a “For Rent” sign was posted at the property.
Labriola declined to speak to LehighValleyNews.com that month about the complaint or the building, which also includes two other commercial units and an apartment.
Increased penalties pending?
Tarafa’s death put clubs and so-called “after-hours businesses” throughout Allentown under heightened scrutiny from city officials.
A week after the fatal stabbing, Mayor Matt Tuerk held a news conference outside the lounge, where he was flanked by Police Chief Charles Roca, council members and several of his top officials.
He said his administration would work to “put an end to this nonsense in the city of Allentown.”
“We're not going to let it continue; we're going to put a stop to this activity. We're not going to let Union Boulevard become ‘Hookah Row’ or ‘After-Hours Row.’"Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, in a news conference a week after the stabbing
“We're not going to let it continue; we're going to put a stop to this activity,” Tuerk said. “We're not going to let Union Boulevard become ‘Hookah Row’ or ‘After-Hours Row.’
Tuerk looked directly at owners and employees of Allentown hookah lounges who showed up at the conference and told them to “cut the sh-t out.”
He urged them to work with Allentown officials to curb violence and other issues at their businesses or risk being shut down.
Businesses will be deemed to be operating “after hours” if they are serving customers past the closing times they stated on city applications, officials said this summer.
Allentown City Council members introduced a resolution in June that would increase penalties for nuisance violations or violence at those businesses.
A first nuisance-abatement violation would come with a $2,500 fine, which would be doubled for further violations, the resolution states.
The city’s nuisance-abatement ordinance sets fines at $250 for a first violation and $500 for a second violation.
Businesses that are operating illegally could face a $20,000 fine or immediate closure if violence occurs there, if the resolution is passed.
Council in June referred the measure to its public safety committee, which has not yet discussed it almost six months later.
