Crime News

Police: Woman Threatened Boyfriend with Steak Knife

"I am going to kill you," SouthSide suspect told her boyfriend after grabbing a steak knife in the kitchen, police say.

  A woman whose boyfriend told her to get out of their Five Points-area apartment came back, grabbed a steak knife from the kitchen and threatened to kill the man. And this time, it was the boyfriend who cleared out. Mayra Lucas, 34, was charged in connection with the incident early Sunday at 513 Ontario St., Apt. 3. According to court records, the boyfriend told police he got into an argument with Lucas and told her to leave. She left but came back a short time later. He said she forced her way back in and punched him under the left eye. She then ran into the kitchen, grabbed a steak knife and, holding it in her right hand, told him,  “I am going to kill you.” The boyfriend said he then ran out of the apartment. When police searched Lucas…

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Crime News

Police: Wood St. Man Threatened to Kill Wife

Richard Conrad was reportedly angered by Facebook birthday messages for his wife, so he threatened to kill her and cut her into pieces, according to court papers.

  A Bethlehem man is accused of threatening to kill his wife in her sleep and cut her in pieces, according to court papers. Richard C. Conrad, 50, of 818 Wood St., also allegedly threatened to kill his children with a knife if he found anything on his wife’s cell phone, according to an arrest affidavit. Conrad’s daughter, Brittney Conrad, told police that her father was angry with birthday Facebook messages that her mother, Michelle Conrad, had been receiving all day and threw her cell phone in the swimming pool, court papers say. Brittney Conrad said the threats had been going on for most of the day on Thursday and at one point, her father told her mother to leave and that if she didn’t, “there would be consequences.” When police arrived …

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Crime News

Police: Threatening Texts Made to City Woman

Ex-boyfriend from Catasauqua accused of making violent threats against Bethlehem woman.

  A Catasauqua man is charged with making threats against his ex-girlfriend in Bethlehem via text messages sent from an email account provided by his employer, according to court records. Ricky Pagan, 29, of 405 Walnut St., allegedly sent the series of threatening texts between 10:04 p.m. Thursday and 5:07 p.m. Friday, according to the arrest warrant. He allegedly sent the texts from an email account provided by R.R. Donnelley & Sons, the affidavit says. The victim had filed for a protection from abuse order a few days earlier, according to the warrant. According to the affidavit, he sent one message that said: “I will be around your area and your phone is tapped … got your exact location whenever it’s on HaHaHa your getting f----- up big …

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Crime News

Police: Fired Employee's Husband Smashed up Office

Disgruntled husband of fired Nationwide Insurance employee brandished knife, smashed objects and made threats against brokerage owner, Bethlehem police say.

  The disgruntled husband of an employee who had been fired from a South Bethlehem insurance business entered the brokerage brandishing a knife, making threats and throwing and smashing items around the establishment on Wednesday afternoon, according to an arrest affidavit. According to court records, Carlos Manuel Cruz-Cosme entered the Nationwide Insurance business at 419 Wyandotte St. at a little after 1:30 p.m. An employee told Bethlehem police that he was holding a pocketknife with the blade open and began smashing and throwing items. “You need to get out of this office!” Cruz-Cosme reportedly told the employee. “Tell Pascual I’ll be back and I’ll be looking for him!” Pascual is Pascual Pena, owner of the brokerage. Pena told …

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Crime News

Police: Drunk City Man Stabbed Walls of Apartment

Suspect accused of choking and threatening woman after she picked him up at Old Brewery Tavern.

  A city man got violent Tuesday night after his girlfriend picked him up at a nearby bar. He kicked open the door of his apartment, grabbed a knife and started to stab the walls and then demanded money from the woman. When she refused, he grabbed her around the throat and choked her, pulled her hair and threatened to kill her “as well as to have other people hurt and rape her,” the woman told police. Christopher Joseph Preg, 24, of 119 W. Frankford St., Apt. 25, was charged with simple assault, terroristic threats, harassment and public drunkenness. The woman told police Preg was outside, banging on the door and yelling to get inside. She also said Preg was intoxicated. Officer Jeff Lutte found Preg sitting on a curb outside. Preg stood …

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Crime News

Police: Suspect Threatened Restaurant Owner

SouthSide teen accused of threatening to shoot owner of Horns tossed gun as police searched for him, according to court papers.

  A 19-year old Bethlehem man threatened to shoot a SouthSide restaurant owner he considered a “snitch,” triggering a police search Wednesday afternoon that led to the man’s capture after he tossed a loaded gun into an E. Fourth Street yard, court records say. The records also say the suspect, Allen Rubin Callender, later told a city detective he tossed the silver and black Bersa Thunder .380 “because he was scared.” And he admitted to “having an altercation with someone [whom] he referred to as a snitch.” That someone was John Silvestera, owner of Horns Restaurant, 123 W. Fourth St. Police were told the man who threatened Silvestera was wearing a yellow Pirates baseball hat, yellow shirt and tan shorts. Silvestera told police that …

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Crime News

Township Man Charged with Phoning Bomb Threat

Bethlehem Township man facing extradition to New Jersey on charges he telephoned bomb threat to a ShopRite.

  A Bethlehem Township man wanted in Warren County, N.J., for allegedly phoning in a bomb threat to a ShopRite supermarket on May 4 was taken into custody Thursday night. Bryan Keith Zink, 43, of 5200 Freemansburg Ave., Lot 9, allegedly called the ShopRite at 1207 Route 22 in Greenwich Township – near the intersection of Route 519 -- and said there were three bombs in the building and that the market had about an hour to get everyone out, according to court records. Armed with a Warren County warrant, Bethlehem Township Patrolman Robert Stametz knocked on Zink’s door around 8:49pm. His girlfriend opened it and invited him inside. Stametz found Zink in a back bedroom, the records say. The records do not indicate if Zink has any connection …

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Crime News

Police: Teen Assaults, Threatens Ex in School

Dramatic scene of screaming and cursing played out in the Charter High School for Performing Arts.

  A Bethlehem teen-ager is charged with threatening and assaulting an ex-girlfriend Wednesday inside the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts on E. Broad Street, according to court records. John Hernandez, 18, of 1947 Hillcrest Ave., had been abusive before, according to the ex-girlfriend, who told police she broke up with him because he had been physically and emotionally abusive in the past, the arrest warrant says. According to court records, Wednesday’s episode began at 8 a.m. when Hernandez stormed into a room and knocked the ex-girlfriend’s bags and belongings off of a chair and to the floor, breaking her cell phone charger. He began screaming, cursing and calling her names before he grabbed her by the hand and …

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SouthSide Man Charged with Making Threats

Accused allegedly threatened to shoot victim because he ruined his daughter's life years earlier.

  A Bethlehem man allegedly threatened to shoot another man at the city’s Portuguese American Club Sunday because he said the man damaged his daughter’s life when he dated her 20 years ago, according to court records. Fernando Pereira, 64, told the man, identified in the records as Humberto Pintor, that his daughter’s life “is now damaged and it is his fault.”   Pereira threatened to go home, get a gun, then come back and “shoot him [Pintor] in the head.” Pintor and witnesses told police they believe Pereira owns “numerous firearms.” They also said he is a “common patron” of the club at 337 Brodhead Ave. on the city’s South Side. Pintor told police that because of Pereira “being intoxicated and his level of anger,” Pintor was afraid for …

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Husband Threatened Wife Over Bills, Police Say

Township man accused of threatening to kill wife, daughter and dog "if she ruined his credit."

A Bethlehem Township man, apparently unhappy he was paying all the family bills, threatened to kill his wife “if she ruined his credit,’’ also threatened to kill their 8-year-old daughter and their dog, and later burned a tablet PC his wife bought for their daughter in the fireplace, according to court records.   Police arrived at the home of  Richard James Lazar Jr., 48, of 3170 Wilson Ave. around 7:30 a.m. Saturday, about two-and-a-half hours after his wife had gone to Bethlehem Township police headquarters to file a domestic report. She said that late Friday afternoon, her husband was on the phone with a credit card company. ”She advised that after she got off the phone, Richard told her that he would kill her if  she ruined his credit…

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