Criminal Justice

The executive board of the International City/County Management Association at its June 21 meeting publicly censured former Fountain Hill Borough Manager Eric Gratz and permanently barred him from ICMA membership.

The Allentown Police Department is no stranger to excessive-force lawsuits, with the city paying out millions to settle them over the past decade.

Allen Jahmell Grimes, 18, of Bethlehem, charged in the Feb. 28 shooting of a woman in the 400 block of Cherokee Street in South Bethlehem, was extradited from New York City after being caught by U.S. Marshals.

A Philadelphia man was apprehended and charged Wednesday in the 2023 shooting death of a man in the parking lot of an Easton convenience store, officials said.

An Allentown man has been charged in the fatal shooting of another man at a party at the East Side Fire Social Hall in February 2024.

On the night of June 30 into July 1, security guard Emilia Amaral, dispatcher Karen Romero, officer Tina Vu, dispatcher Christina Pulley and officer Jaime Hricko were part of an historic moment at Lehigh University.

Ismael Segarra is accused of pointing a loaded shotgun at his wife and pulling the trigger. Police said the gun jammed.

John Frederick Fifield, 21, pleaded guilty May 6 to charges in a 2021 crash of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and aggravated assault by vehicle while driving under the influence — both felonies.

Allentown police launched their investigation after an officer found her car in a different spot than where she parked it.

The U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the scope of an anti-bribery law used to send former Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski to federal prison. But Scott Curtis, the former FBI agent who led the investigation, said the ruling shouldn't be of much help to Pawlowski's appeals.

Joshua Gonzalez, 40, of South Whitehall Township, faces 70 to 140 years in prison, according to the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office.

About 50 people rallied Monday outside Allentown City Hall, calling for federal intervention after a Black employee found a noose on her desk last week.

Authorities are investigating after the body of a 39-year-old New Jersey resident was found in a dumpster behind the Santander Bank on Saturday.

Joshua D. Moser was found dead in his Lehigh County Jail cell on Saturday, Jan. 11. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday, but Lehigh County Coroner and the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office believe it to be a suicide.

Sgt. Evan Weaver and former Vice officer Jason Krasley are accused of sexually assaulting the same victim between 2011 and 2015.

Mayor Matt Tuerk called Allentown “one of the safest large cities” in Pennsylvania, citing statistics that show only Bethlehem has a lower per-capita violent-crime rate among cities with more than 50,000 residents.

Four people were victims of homicides in Allentown last year; 19 people were killed in homicides in 2023, according to data from the Lehigh County Coroner’s Office.

FOP Washington Lodge #17, representing Easton Police Department officers, announced the approval of a new four-year contract with the city, set to be settled with council on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025.

A man was carjacked at gunpoint Thursday after arranging a deal on Facebook Marketplace to sell shoes to two men, according to court documents.

The body of Jesse Rutt, of Walnutport, was discovered at 11:34 p.m. in the area of the Slate Heritage Trail in the 300 block of East Church Street.

Daniel Leibensperger, 34, of Emmaus, was charged Dec. 19, the day after after his girlfriend was stabbed, authorities said Tuesday in a news release. Leibensperger's body was found Dec. 26 in Allentown's Jordan Creek.

The body of an unidentified man was discovered Monday in the water of an underground quarry, the Lehigh County Coroner’s Office said.