An Allentown city employee who told police someone placed a noose in her desk back in January planted it herself, according to investigators. She now faces charges.
An Allentown city employee is accused of placing a noose on her desk and then falsely claiming that someone else put it there.
On Jan. 10, 2025, shortly after 7 a.m., Allentown city worker LaTarsha Brown, 42, arrived at her office on the third floor of the City Hall building in Allentown, Pennsylvania. About a half hour later, Brown called Allentown Police and told them she spotted what she believed to be a noose on her desk when she arrived at work.
As police investigated, they spoke with city employees who were on the third floor of City Hall between the time Brown left work during the afternoon of Jan. 9 and returned during the morning of Jan. 10. All of the employees, except for Brown, provided a swab for DNA testing, according to investigators. While Brown initially cooperated, she later asked that the investigation end, police said.
The noose was submitted to the Pennsylvania State Police crime lab for DNA testing on Jan. 14, 2025. On Jan. 24, 2025, the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office approved a search warrant for Brown’s DNA and a sample was obtained that same day. Brown’s swab was submitted to the Pennsylvania State Police Bethlehem Regional Crime Lab on Jan. 27 for comparison with the DNA recovered from the noose.
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On March 10, the Pennsylvania State Police Forensic DNA Division issued a report indicating that they matched Brown’s DNA sample with the sample obtained from the noose, investigators said. They also said no other DNA profiles were found on the noose during the investigation.
Brown was then charged on March 24, 2025, with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and false reports to law enforcement authorities.
Brown is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on April 22, 2025. Online court records don’t list the contact of any legal representation who could speak on her behalf.
