Criminal Justice

Allentown City Council members are preparing for potential litigation against the mayor for putting "roadblocks" in the way of an investigation into allegations of workplace discrimination and racism.

Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley held its inaugural State of PNLV address on Tuesday at the Renaissance Hotel in Allentown.

A Lehigh University student was found to have forged documents to get into the school. He will now be deported after authorities investigated his admission of the scheme on Reddit, they said.

A video recording shows an Allentown police officer delivering seven blows to 29-year-old Michael Iucolino’s leg as three other officers surrounded him on the ground. He was then shocked with a Taser. Police said Iucolino "continued to be an assailant throughout the entire encounter."

Officers called to a shooting in Bethlehem found a man with a gunshot wound to the body. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital in critical condition, police said.

Joshua Ortiz, 28, of Allentown, had pleaded guilty April 22 to attempted murder — a first-degree felony — in the June 4, 2023, incident in the parking lot of AutoZone, 1871 S. Fifth St., Allentown.

Allentown authorities have released the names and images of two individuals suspected of being involved in the shooting of an 11-year-old boy on June 13. 2024, and are asking for help finding the pair.

Kareem Ali Greene, 40, served more than a decade in state prison after pleading guilty to a March 2007 armed robbery in South Allentown, court records show.

Bethlehem Police Chief Michelle Kott said, “A local ordinance would make it easier for us to seize the dirt bikes after [the riders are] taken into police custody."

Two council members hit back at the mayor Tuesday, saying they have no concerns about the process that led them to hire a former FBI agent to investigate allegations of workplace discrimination and racism.

Andrew I. Uruchima Lima was in the front seat of the car, which slammed into the pole in the 1800 block of Flint Hill Road about 9:15 p.m. Monday, Lehigh County Coroner Daniel A. Buglio said in a release.

Carlos Landesta-Agramonte was among five people charged in the death of 25-year-old Angel Martinez-Velez, who was shot multiple times while playing basketball June 1, 2024, at Fountain Park.

Macungie residents, including a long-serving corporal of the police department, packed a borough council meeting Wednesday morning to protest a revised police internal affairs policy.

Allentown police used city surveillance cameras and license-plate readers to track a vehicle and identify two suspects that fled the area of shooting.

Lehigh County Judge Thomas Caffrey said criminal dockets related to an interstate drug ring should have been unsealed weeks ago. LehighValleyLive.com, LehighValleyNews.com and The Morning Call had petitioned the court to release information pertaining to dozens of criminal defendants.

Authorities are trying to sort through exactly what led to a 29-year-old man's death near South Fourth Street and Emaus Avenue. The district attorney says the victim had confronted the delivery driver whom he believed had damaged his vehicle.

Marquis Michael Watkins has been sentenced to life without parole in the shooting death of a Bethlehem woman in 2022, according to the Northampton County District Attorney's Office.

A Lehigh County judge has denied a request by Francis Anonia, the former Parkland School District performing arts administrator, to suppress videos allegedly recovered from his cell phone during an invasion of privacy investigation by county detectives.

Lehigh County Coroner Daniel Buglio found the victim died of blunt force injuries after being struck by a vehicle. He ruled the manner of death as homicide.

Abviud Carvajal, of Allentown, after a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Nov. 18, was ordered to face county court on the charges, Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan said in a news release.

Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, did not sign the discharge petition that will force a vote on releasing the Epstein files on Tuesday. However, Mackenzie has said for months he would support the measure if it came to a vote.

Costas Alesta's motion to withdraw his guilty plea filed was denied by county judge Judge Samuel P. Murray in a one-page order filed Friday, Nov. 7, county District Attorney Stephen G. Baratta said.