Allentown employee planted noose on her desk, faces false report charges, police say

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

Allentown officials announced charges Monday against a city employee, alleging that she made a false police report and tampered with evidence after reporting she   found a noose on her desk in January.

LaTarsha Brown, who works for the city’s community and economic development department, faces charges of making false reports, a third-degree misdemeanor, and tampering with and fabricating physical evidence, a misdemeanor of the second degree.

City police in January announced an investigation into an incident where a city employee, later identified as Brown, found an item resembling a noose on her desk when she reported for work in the morning. A group of activists several days later held a protest outside City Hall, calling for justice and accountability and labeling the incident a hate crime. City officials announced two days after the protest that the FBI was involved in the investigation.

However, a few weeks into the investigation in late January, a Lehigh County judge approved a search warrant for Brown’s DNA. An affidavit alleged that Brown was not cooperating with the investigation, made   “vague statements and gave deceptive answers” to investigators   and refused to voluntarily provide a DNA sample.

Police collected a DNA sample from Brown on Jan. 24, the day the search warrant was issued. According to the affidavit supporting the charges against Brown, police thanked Brown for her cooperation, and she said, “Yeah, so you said thanks for cooperating, I mean, you had to get a court order for me to cooperate, so!”

Brown’s DNA was turned over to the Pennsylvania State Police Bethlehem Crime Lab on Jan. 27. From Jan 13-29, police also conducted interviews and collected DNA from nine other employees who were identified as being on the third floor between the time Brown left the night before and when she found the noose in the morning.. All of those employees voluntarily gave DNA samples, according to court documents.

Only Brown’s DNA was found on the outside of the noose and the inner knotted portion when it was untied.

Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk called the charges “shocking” and said he is grateful to Allentown police for conducting a thorough investigation.

“It’s doubly shocking that an employee would — that she would have fabricated this incident,” Tuerk said.

He said he is committed to “creating an environment of respect and of care and inclusion” for the city’s employees.

The noose incident came as the city faced other public allegations of discrimination in City Hall. In 2023, the Allentown NAACP penned an open letter accusing Tuerk and other city leaders of failing to address discrimination among employees, and alleged at least 10 have faced racial discrimination. Tuerk has said the city takes the allegations seriously and denied that the administration has ignored them.

Following more than a year of disagreements between Tuerk and some City Council members on how to investigate the alleged discrimination,   council in January narrowly approved the hire of law firm Duane Morris to evaluate the city’s disciplinary practices and provide a public report.

Barbara Redmond, the Allentown NAACP’s former secretary who penned the open letter and helped organize the anti-discrimination protest, said Brown should be considered innocent unless proven guilty, and called on the public not to assume anyone other than Brown is involved with the alleged falsified noose.

“We didn’t do anything, we weren’t at city hall that morning, so please don’t judge us, judge that individual situation, that individual case,” Redmond said. “And like I said, the lady is innocent until proven guilty.”

She declined to say whether or not she has spoken to Brown since the charges were filed.

“I am relieved to know the cloud of suspicion is lifted from the people who worked in this area,” said City Council president Daryl Hendricks.

In Hendricks’ view, city hall does not have a systemic problem with alleged discrimination and racism, and he said he believes the outcome of Duane Morris’ investigation will prove that.

Brown, who also is a member of the Allentown School Board, is still employed by the city; officials did not comment on the future of her employment when asked. Police Chief Charles Roca would not speculate on a motive.

Brown is scheduled for a preliminary hearing April 22 before Magisterial District Judge Karen Devine.

Brown does not have an attorney listed on charging documents. Lehigh County’s Chief Public Defender Kimberly Makoul, whose office was listed by default in place of a hired attorney, declined to comment. Brown did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.