Criminal Justice

The Northampton County district attorney recently asked if the Bethlehem Police Department would dedicate an officer to a part-time role in a human trafficking task force.

An Allentown hookah lounge where a 29-year-old man was fatally stabbed over the weekend is facing eviction, according to court documents.

Isiah Yeager, 23, of Allentown, is facing a criminal homicide charge after police said he twice stabbed 29-year-old Kevin Tarafa, of Bethlehem, at Synergy Hookah Lounge on Allentown's East Side.

Pennsylvania State Police on Monday night said the driver, a 47-year-old man from Allentown, was not struck by gunfire, as state police initially reported. A trooper fired two rounds after a traffic stop Friday night at South Third and West Union streets. The driver was ordered to Lehigh County Jail.

Sunday’s fatal stabbing at Synergy Hookah Lounge on Union Boulevard in Allentown was “the last straw,” the building's owner said, adding he wants the business “gone like cancer.”

A trooper and a suspect both were shot and killed in a shootout in central Pennsylvania, just hours after a 2nd trooper was seriously injured after being shot by the gunman, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

It happened about 5:40 p.m. Friday near South Third and West Union streets in Allentown as city police and state troopers were conducting "high visibility proactive traffic enforcement," state police said. The motorist was taken to a hospital along with another motorist injured when struck by the offending vehicle.

Autopsy reveals cause and manner of death on Tuesday's incident in West Catasauqua Park.

Christopher Ferrante's case became key to the primary race for Northampton County District Attorney. A Common Pleas judge will soon decide whether the case can move forward, and weigh in on one dispute from the primary in the process.

Easton Police Chief Carl Scalzo and South Side Civic Association President Melody Davis-Rogers alerted the community to several car break-ins on South Side at a city council meeting Wednesday.

While the city fills out its traffic staff, Public Works Director Michael Alkhal said he’d have to touch base with his team to see about any upcoming speed surveys. But the city is open to making some adjustments as needed, he said.

The teen died three weeks after the incident in Lynn Township, Lehigh County. He was with three other teens in the truck. State police and the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office are investigating.

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.