Criminal Justice

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.

Law enforcement officials seized dark clothing, medical gloves, a flashlight and other items from a Pennsylvania home where they arrested a graduate student charged with stabbing four University of Idaho students to death. That is according to newly unsealed court documents.

20-year-old Ceu Uk, of Charlotte, allegedly threatened a shooting in the Saucon Valley School District in response to an after-school Satan club being allowed to meet on district property.

Law enforcement authorities describe turmoil within the Sikh congregation as a civil matter, preventing them from stopping people from entering the Nazareth-area building. Members of the Guru Nanak Sikh Society of Lehigh Valley say the are concerned for their safety.

Federal, state and local law enforcement officials announced Wednesday they had dismantled a gun trafficking organization that bought firearms across Pennsylvania and illegally sold them throughout the Southeastern region of the state.

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.

Donations for 30 residents displaced can be made online or via mail (checks payable to UWGLV, 1110 American Parkway NE, Suite F-120, Allentown 18109 — attention “Cedar Street Fire Fund”).

Flames trapped a woman in the basement of her home, according to charges filed against Santos Mota-Ramirez. Police say he set the fire after trying to fatally stab another woman. The blaze affected seven row homes Thursday night and displaced 30 people.

Neighbors and community leaders responded to a row home fire that spread to other homes on West Cedar Street in Allentown on Thursday night.

Fountain Hill police and the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office charged two men with breaking into the Fountain Hill Pharmacy and opening fire on police, which led to a standoff and lockdown on Christmas Eve.