Criminal Justice

Allentown police allege Adam Makowka, 27, used a fire escape to enter Jerkera Battle's apartment and shot her to death with an AR-15. Makowka also is charged with trying to kill another man in the apartment.

Tamir Johnson, 35, got out of his car and swung a bat, hitting the other driver’s door. That driver fired one shot that struck Johnson, authorities said.

Jorge Suarez-Santiago, 33, was sentenced to 5-to-15 years in prison in the drug-induced death of his 22-month-old son.

A man whose body was found in a field near Salisbury Elementary School on Friday morning has been identified.

ICE has confirmed the arrest of a suspected murderer from Honduras, Yobani Bonilla-Bonilla, aka, Gilberto Perez-Alvarado, in Easton in June 2025.

Police are investigating after a 37-year-old man was found dead on the 1400 block of Gaskill Avenue in Salisbury Township.

Sammy Sasso, a former Nazareth Area High School state wrestling champion, is charged with possessing unlicensed guns and a controlled substance after police said they stopped the car he was driving because of an expired registration.

Witness said Jose Vladimir Jerez, 24, of Allentown, was driving erratically while trying to pass another car when he crashed his car into a utility pole in October. A 20-year-old passenger, Ezequiel Hernandez-Cartagena, died less than 90 minutes later.

A former Easton Area High School resource officer who pleaded guilty to sending a sexually explicit image of himself to a 16-year-old female student in 2024 was sentenced to 9-to-24 months in Northampton County Prison, it was announced on Wednesday.

Said Bethlehem Police Chief Michelle Kott, “It’s not used for enforcement. It’s just a means, similar to the news media, of being able to bring up that camera and check the traffic conditions, or if there's an accident, it could be utilized for investigative purposes.”

Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan announced Wednesday that a 22-year-old man has been charged in connection with a Tuesday night shooting in the city’s west end.

The shooting occurred Saturday night outside a family party. Authorities said the gunman was part of an uninvited group that was denied entry to the party. No arrests have been made, according to the Lehigh County District Attorney.

Francis Malofiy of law firm Francis Alexander on Tuesday filed a complaint for a class action lawsuit on behalf of 12 families who all say they were falsely accused of child abuse by LVHN doctors.

Mayor David Heintzelman said the borough has 'complete confidence' in Interim Chief Dominick Fragano. Officials say they are awaiting the results of a police department assessment by the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association.

A broken heating system at the Allentown Police Department's 60-year-old headquarters is just one of many reasons the city should push for a new station, according to a six-month feasibility study.

An outdated police manual from 1981, gross approval of overtime and a general lack of leadership by Chief Douglas Kish necessitate change in the Catasauqua Borough Police Department, a study showed.

Newly sworn-in Northampton County District Attorney Stephen Baratta expects it will take him more than a year to fill his roster of prosecutors. In the meantime, his office has to deal with a massive backlog of cases.

An Orefield woman has been charged in a Saturday shooting that left a man injured, city police said.

The Allentown title company owner surrendered to authorities Thursday morning and was arraigned on the newest charges.

The Allentown Police Department secured $4.1 million in grants to buy 67 license-plate readers and several gunshot-detection devices.

Christopher Fitzgerald was shot and killed near the Temple University campus in Philadelphia while working as a university police officer in February 2023.

City officials say the technology will be "life-changing," while critics have called the system "reactionary" and an expansion of the "surveillance state."