Criminal Justice

Mayor David Heintzelman announced a new “officer in charge” of the Hellertown Police Department. One official said if the borough added six full-time officers as recommended in a report, taxpayers would bear the brunt of an estimated 35% property tax increase.

The powerful animal tranquilizer is showing up in supplies of illicit drugs and is contributing to a growing number of overdose deaths, including in the Lehigh Valley.

Someone robbed a bank in west Allentown while police responded Monday to a report of an armed person on the college campus, according to police.

A 29-year-old former Parkland student, who lived in a home owned by district performing arts director Frank Anonia, was sentenced to county prison last month on a charge of possessing child pornography.

Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan announced on Friday that six persons have been charged in a large-scale burglary ring throughout the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas.

A Palmer Township police officer has been arrested for allegedly sending inappropriate images of himself to an underage Easton Area High School student, authorities said.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry announced that a Lehigh County man has been sentenced to prison for his role in a January 2023 shooting in Allentown.

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.

The shooting that killed 3-year-old Elijah Abreu Borgen in Allentown on Thursday remains under investigation, the Lehigh County coroner ruled Friday.

The Allentown Police Department is investigating the shooting death of a 3-year-old boy on the city’s East Side.

The Northampton County District Attorney’s Office and Lower Saucon Township police have announced additional charges in connection with bomb threats made in the school district last week.

Four members of the Northampton County Republican Committee's executive board face criminal charges filed by Glenn Geissinger, the board's chairman.

Police are still investigating what they have labeled a suspicious package found at a distribution center in Lower Macungie Township on Monday afternoon. Local authorities have enlisted the FBI's help.

Council members Ce-Ce Gerlach and Ed Zucal are sponsoring a bill to remove imprisonment as a potential consequence for breaking some city ordinances.

The Northampton County District Attorney's Office says charges have been filed in juvenile court against a girl in relation to bomb threats made in Saucon Valley School District this week.

Eric Gratz, 42, of Alburtis, in a hearing before Judge Anna-Kristie M. Marks pleaded guilty to two counts of solicitation to commit prostitution, a third-degree misdemeanor

South Whitehall Township commissioners appointed Capt. Stephen Brown to the position of interim/acting police chief. Outgoing Police Chief Glen Dorney recently tendered his resignation to take a job in the private sector.

Allentown City Council is expected to approve two bills Wednesday to accept funding from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency on behalf of the police department.

Kathryn Murray, a Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations gave a keynote speech at Hotel Bethlehem on Friday about Human Trafficking.

John Albert Garner, 25, is charged with homicide and aggravated assault, both first-degree felonies, in the death of Alexander Mason Price a week before his 30th birthday in July 2023.