Criminal Justice

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.

Police are warning folks not to deposit mail in the dropbox outside the Palmer branch of the Easton Post Office. They say several checks have been stolen from the mail.

Starting this summer, the Bethlehem Police Department will use stop-arm cameras to capture and enforce illegal school bus passing in its jurisdiction.

The virtual town hall will be streamed on Zoom at 7 p.m. Thursday. Lehigh Valley Stands Up is planning to host an in-person watch party.

A Northampton County jury found Christopher Ferrante not guilty of drug delivery resulting in death Tuesday, while convicting him on six lesser charges.

Testimony in the trial of Christopher Ferrante, charged in the 2020 overdose death of Michael Racciato, concluded Monday with Ferrante himself, along with his handler in the Allentown Police Department.

Body camera footage caught Phil Racciato identifying Christopher Ferrante to police as the alleged drug supplier who he says routinely provided his son Michael "Mikey" Racciato with illicit drugs.

Prosecutors presented data pulled from the cell phones of former state champion Pen Argyl wrestler Michael Racciato and defendant Christopher Ferrante, who stands accused of providing the fentanyl that led to Racciato's death in a Lower Nazareth Township parking lot.

Michael "Mikey" Racciato's father recounted the events leading up to his son's death in December 2020, including multiple overdoses, visits to rehab facilities and eventually discovering his son dead from a fentanyl overdose.

Northampton County's district attorney's office is touting $168,000 in drug money that law enforcement has confiscated.

The trial of Christopher Ferrante, charged in connection with the overdose death of Michael Racciato, began Monday. The case attracted scrutiny during the race for Northampton County District Attorney earlier this year.

Lawyers for Christopher Ferrante, charged with drug delivery resulting in death, told the court Monday he conducted at least two undercover drug buys for Allentown police.

The Salisbury Township Police Department is using humor on Facebook to foster connections and bridge a gap to reach people of all ages across the township and beyond. But there's a purpose to their punchlines, and the attention they've garnered seems to be working.