Criminal Justice

The Allentown Police Department will replace or upgrade about 175 cameras across the city to provide high-definition surveillance footage, according to Chief Charles Roca.

Costas Alestas, a former Bethlehem police officer and soccer coach at East Hills Middle School, intends to plead not guilty to multiple sex-related crimes involving two middle school students, his attorney said.

A simulation led by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute showed local leaders the challenges people face with income, ID, employment and more after being released from prison.

The Northampton County District Attorney’s Office plans to announce criminal charges Wednesday against an East Hills Middle School resource officer accused of statutory sexual assault and related felonies. He also served as a middle school soccer coach, according to the Bethlehem Area School District.

Northampton County prosecutors and Slate Belt police announced charges Tuesday in a string of robberies in Pen Argyl last winter.

Mayor David Heintzelman announced a new “officer in charge” of the Hellertown Police Department. One official said if the borough added six full-time officers as recommended in a report, taxpayers would bear the brunt of an estimated 35% property tax increase.

The powerful animal tranquilizer is showing up in supplies of illicit drugs and is contributing to a growing number of overdose deaths, including in the Lehigh Valley.

Someone robbed a bank in west Allentown while police responded Monday to a report of an armed person on the college campus, according to police.

A 29-year-old former Parkland student, who lived in a home owned by district performing arts director Frank Anonia, was sentenced to county prison last month on a charge of possessing child pornography.

Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan announced on Friday that six persons have been charged in a large-scale burglary ring throughout the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas.

Police are investigating after a 37-year-old man was found dead on the 1400 block of Gaskill Avenue in Salisbury Township.

Sammy Sasso, a former Nazareth Area High School state wrestling champion, is charged with possessing unlicensed guns and a controlled substance after police said they stopped the car he was driving because of an expired registration.

Witness said Jose Vladimir Jerez, 24, of Allentown, was driving erratically while trying to pass another car when he crashed his car into a utility pole in October. A 20-year-old passenger, Ezequiel Hernandez-Cartagena, died less than 90 minutes later.

A former Easton Area High School resource officer who pleaded guilty to sending a sexually explicit image of himself to a 16-year-old female student in 2024 was sentenced to 9-to-24 months in Northampton County Prison, it was announced on Wednesday.

Said Bethlehem Police Chief Michelle Kott, “It’s not used for enforcement. It’s just a means, similar to the news media, of being able to bring up that camera and check the traffic conditions, or if there's an accident, it could be utilized for investigative purposes.”

Angel Martinez-Velez, 25, of Allentown, was shot and killed June 1, 2024, on the basketball court at Allentown's Fountain Park.

Allentown police were called just before 2 a.m. Sunday to a home in the 100 block of Pine Street, where officers found a girl suffering from a gunshot wound to the face, according to the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office.

Police were called to a South Side neighborhood just before 11:30 p.m. on Saturday for a report of a shooting. All of the wounded are expected to survive, police said.

John Gehrmann, stepfather of Palmer teen Enci "Aubrey" Wu, has been charged with illegally recording phone conversations with authorities and other individuals while he was looking into the girl's disappearance.

Mayor Matt Tuerk called on the county's president judge to “issue a public and unambiguous policy” banning ICE agents from county courthouses, a move he said would “be a major step in restoring trust in government and faith in its fairness.”

Lehigh County Board of Commissioners have Ok'd a four-year, $34.6 million contract with PrimeCare Medical to serve inmates in their corrections facilities.

The hotline, created by the Lehigh Valley Emergency Response Network, will serve as a tool for residents to report concerns about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity.