Criminal Justice

It happened a little before 7 p.m. Wednesday at Easton Avenue and Beech Street in Bethlehem.

Clement Swaby was sentenced to up to 150 years in prison in the 2020 rape of a Lehigh University student, plus subsequent break-ins and attempted sexual assaults in Easton.

Lehigh County Judge Thomas Capehart denied the appeal of Patrick Palmer, who argued election staff should accept his paperwork because he paid a filing fee on time.

Patrick Palmer, an Allentown School Board director, argued in Lehigh County Court he should not be denied a spot on the primary ballot. County officials ruled he missed the March 7 filing deadline by a matter of seconds.

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s nominees for attorney general and state police commissioner received unanimous approval from the Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Senate.

Lehigh Valley Health Network was victimized in a cybersecurity attack last month. The network said it refused to pay a ransom. Now, patient information and photos have been posted on the dark web, according to LVHN.

The force, made up of municipal, county and federal investigators, is designed to fight the sexual exploitation of children in the county, along with human trafficking more broadly.

Marc Muffley was arrested at his home in Lansford, Carbon County, on Monday night. A hearing is set for Thursday afternoon in federal court in Allentown on charges that include possessing an explosive device at an airport.

On Thursday, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin declared that a city police officer was justified in fatally shooting an armed man during a foot chase last month.

The FBI said Marc Muffley, 40, of Lansford, Carbon County, left the airport Monday after checking a bag that was to be loaded on an Allegiant flight from Allentown to Sanford, Fla.

An Allentown Police officer has been charged with felony and misdemeanor counts of assault after allegedly striking a man with his service weapon.

City officials said the encampment is in active flood zone and must be shut down. The move goes against Mayor Matt Tuerk's directive to clean rather than clear camps.

State Police are investigating a hit-and-run that occurred on the ramp from Route 22 eastbound in Hanover Township. They discovered a man dead, but still are working to determine how he died.

Northampton County's district attorney will not press charges in a fatal single-vehicle motorcycle crash, officials announced Tuesday.

The patrols — on Broadway or on side streets just off Broadway — came during the opening weekend of Musikfest in Bethlehem.

Lehigh County Coroner Dan Buglio said toxicology testing showed a significant level of illicit controlled substances in Timothy Vanbilliard’s system, including methamphetamine, when he died May 11, 2025.

Attorney Ronnie Louis Creazzo has been charged in connection to threats made against the Office of Disciplinary Counsel following their attempts to serve him at his Bushkill Township home in 2024.

Two men, including one at-large, have been charged with attempted homicide and other offenses in the shooting of six individuals in Easton this month.

Phillip Rishel alleges an Allentown cop drove his SUV at him after a confrontation over Rishel's filming of officers at their substation at Tenth and Hamilton Streets. He was later charged with loitering.

Police tried to stop Thomas Kravitz's vehicle as it arrived at the woman’s home, but he drove away, hitting an Allentown police car, police said.

The United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley will absorb the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute's research staff and operations, the nonprofits announced Thursday.

Judge Steven Hippler ordered Bryan Kohberger to serve life in prison without parole for killing four University of Idaho students. Friends and relatives delivered powerful statements of love, anguish and condemnation at the sentencing hearing Wednesday.