Criminal Justice

Authorities are trying to sort through exactly what led to a 29-year-old man's death near South Fourth Street and Emaus Avenue. The district attorney says the victim had confronted the delivery driver whom he believed had damaged his vehicle.

Marquis Michael Watkins has been sentenced to life without parole in the shooting death of a Bethlehem woman in 2022, according to the Northampton County District Attorney's Office.

A Lehigh County judge has denied a request by Francis Anonia, the former Parkland School District performing arts administrator, to suppress videos allegedly recovered from his cell phone during an invasion of privacy investigation by county detectives.

Lehigh County Coroner Daniel Buglio found the victim died of blunt force injuries after being struck by a vehicle. He ruled the manner of death as homicide.

Abviud Carvajal, of Allentown, after a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Nov. 18, was ordered to face county court on the charges, Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan said in a news release.

Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, did not sign the discharge petition that will force a vote on releasing the Epstein files on Tuesday. However, Mackenzie has said for months he would support the measure if it came to a vote.

Costas Alesta's motion to withdraw his guilty plea filed was denied by county judge Judge Samuel P. Murray in a one-page order filed Friday, Nov. 7, county District Attorney Stephen G. Baratta said.

Ti'Shaun Singleton was pronounced dead early Saturday evening, according to the Lehigh County Coroner's Office. The coroner ruled homicide as the manner of death.

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.

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.

Carly Grozier died as the result of injuries sustained in a gas explosion in off-campus housing at West Virginia University. "For us, this issue is much larger than Carly," her mother said.

A 56-year-old South Whitehall Township man was the victim of a shooting early Friday, according to authorities.

Gianni Santini, 17, is accused of killing 30-year-old Altaron A. Robinson after they allegedly arranged a drug deal near Governor Wolf Elementary School in Bethlehem.

Bethlehem police took a 17-year-old into custody late Friday in connection with the fatal shooting. A 30-year-old Allentown man was identified as the victim.

Bethlehem police are investigating a shooting that occurred in the 1900 block of Butztown Road on Thursday night. They've issued an arrest warrant for Gianni Santini, 17.

A Lehigh County judge sentenced Rami Abouloh to life in prison Thursday for fatally shooting his wife and wounding a man in a Whitehall Township park in 2023.