Criminal Justice

Lehigh County Board of Commissioners voted Wednesday to seek state funding to study whether several municipal police departments in the county should be combined.

Bethlehem Police Chief Michelle Kott said methamphetamine is “a real issue” around the city and beyond.

Ongoing investigations are happening, according to the Northampton Co. D.A., into smoke shops selling THC products with misleading or untrue labels.

Lehigh County Clerk of Elections Tim Benyo said his office contacted law enforcement after determining an organization turned in hundreds of faulty voter registration applications.

That hearing is set to be the first scene in what could be an ugly legal saga between Allentown officials.

Two Allentown officers alleged they faced retaliation after trying to report their colleagues to superiors.

Frank Anonia, 43, who resigned as the Parkland School District's visual and performing arts director, is charged with secretly recording a student getting changed in a high school auditorium dressing room in 2021.

IRS Criminal Investigation special agents visited Moravian University during a full-day criminal investigation simulation known as the citizen academy.

Kameron Barnes Nuble, 34, had enough evidence against him presented at a preliminary hearing Friday to support charges of homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide in the death of Legious Minder, 46, District Justice Robert Hawke ruled.

Francis 'Frank' Anonia, 43, was charged by Lehigh County detectives with multiple counts of invasion of privacy, criminal use of a communication facility and other offenses, according to court records.

Northampton County officials said Wednesday that while a staffing crisis at the county's juvenile justice center has eased over the past few months, they are still turning kids away because of a worker shortage.

Bryan Kohberger, charged in the killings of 4 University of Idaho students, resided in Monroe County, Pa., and is a graduate of DeSales University and Northampton Community College.

An Easton woman is facing numerous charges after investigators said she smuggled a cell phone and drugs into Northampton County Prison — items later found in possession of two inmates.

Jorge Suarez-Santiago, 34, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Jayleen Rivas-Rodriguez, 35, of Allentown, have had warrants issued for their arrest, Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan said.

Skill games — those machines that look like slot machines in convenience stores and taverns across Pennsylvania — are a potential public safety threat because they deal in cash in places that generally have little or no security procedures in place, according to the state district attorneys association.

Christian Joel Gonzalez Santiago, 29, last month pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree misdemeanor, in the July 31, 2022, crash on MacArthur Road in Whitehall Township.

Helen Teresa Knieriem and Roy T. Knieriem, both 76, were found in the home at 2359 Taylor Drive following a phone call to 911, according to the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office.

Jose Hilario Abreu, 29, is charged with involuntary manslaughter in which the victim is less than 12 years old in the March 28 death of Elijah Abreu Borgen, Holihan said.

Social media platforms, a toll-free number and online tip form are all part of what police are calling “PSP Tips” – a means for the community to provide information that might help solve a case, including some that are decades old.

The Pardon Project is designed to help low-income residents convicted of nonviolent crimes who have pleaded guilty and completed their sentence at least five years ago to eventually have their record expunged.

Allen Jahmell Grimes, 18, of Bethlehem, is reportedly awaiting extradition at Rikers Island in New York City after being caught by U.S. Marshals over the weekend.

Financial assistance is on the way to help a Lehigh Valley nonprofit that assists women who have been sex trafficked. Bloom for Women can now make upgrades to the housing they offer and begin providing services to men and children with the money.