Criminal Justice

LehighValleyNews.com, lehighvalleylive.com and The Morning Call have filed a joint motion seeking the release of sealed court records connected to a grand jury drug case investigation. The documents have been sealed for two months even though an order sealing at least one of them expired more than a month ago.

An attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press argued that a motion to unseal court dockets tied to a drug bust should be allowed to continue in Lehigh County Court. LehighValleyNews.com, lehighvalleylive.com and the Morning Call have joined in the effort to make the records public.

Brenda Rodriguez, 52, of Palmerton, is the final of three defendants to be sentenced in the Dec. 7, 2024, shooting death of her husband, Hector Garcia Gomez, in the parking lot of Loco Hot Deals, 1155 MacArthur Road.

Eric Dowdle led Lehigh County’s prosecution against two former Allentown vice officers before state attorneys took over those cases.

More than three dozen law enforcement professionals from the Lehigh Valley and beyond took part in the first training at the newly opened Joni Berner Esq ‘75-Expert Witness Training Center & Crime Scene Laboratory.

Two men are in Northampton County Prison after a traffic stop and vehicle search yielded the seizure of about 20,000 fentanyl pills.

Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan announced Thursday that an Allentown man charged in a fatal shooting outside a child's birthday party last year has been sentenced. He will serve 11 ½ to 28 years in state prison in the death of an Alburtis man.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has filed an emergency motion in Lehigh County Court requesting that a judge unseal documents in at least 22 criminal cases tied to an interstate drug ring. Among the defendants is Lehigh County Commissioner Zach Cole-Borghi.

After his ousting in August 2023, Nadeem Shahzad pledged to sue the city for terminating him without cause.

Alfeni Romero-Taveras, 22, of Allentown, was charged Friday in the June 1, 2024, death of Angel Martinez-Velez on a basketball court at Fountain Park on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

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."