
The FBI is assisting Allentown police with their investigation into an alleged hate crime that occurred late week at City Hall, officials said Wednesday night at a City Council meeting.
The announcement comes as the city is embroiled in several legal disputes involving allegations of discrimination and misconduct among city employees.
Allentown police announced Friday they are investigating an incident in which a Black woman who works for the Community and Economic Development Department discovered an item resembling a noose on her desk when she reported for work that morning.
At Wednesday night’s meeting, outgoing Council President Cynthia Mota — Daryl Hendricks was voted in as the new council president later in the evening — announced that the FBI was working with city police on the investigation into the incident.
Allentown police Chief Charles Roca confirmed the FBI was assisting with the investigation, but offered no other details in a follow-up interview after the meeting.
“At times we partner with other law enforcement agencies to assist us with investigations,” Roca said. “In this specific case, we are working with the FBI.”
A spokesperson for the FBI also confirmed their involvement.
“We are aware of the incident in Allentown and are in contact with local authorities,” a spokesperson said. “We will review the facts and circumstances of the incident to determine the appropriate federal response.”
A group of around 50 Allentown activists staged a protest Monday outside City Hall, calling for officials to crack down on alleged discrimination among city employees and for the FBI to investigate the noose incident.
“The power of the people got the right authorities involved,” said Josie Lopez, a protest organizer who is friends with the victim of the alleged hate crime.
Lopez had asked the public to use the FBI’s online tip line to ask them to investigate the incident.
Protesters said the alleged hate crime is not an isolated incident: At least 10 city employees have reported facing racism and discrimination at work, according to a 2023 letter from the Allentown NAACP. City Council is pursuing an independent investigation into those allegations, and in June hired former FBI agent Scott Curtis to look into the claims.
That investigation, however, is embroiled in a legal dispute with the city administration, which contends council did not follow city procedures in hiring Curtis.
In coordination with City Council, the city’s purchasing department in December 2023 issued a “request for proposals” for firms to conduct the investigation. Curtis’ firm responded to the request, but his bid was disqualified because his firm “did not conform to the requirements of the RFP,” according to a memo from mayor Matt Tuerk. Specifically, Curtis’ application included costs in its technical proposal, which the city disallows.
However, City Council hired Curtis via a “letter of engagement,” which bypassed the city’s procurement procedures. Because of that, the administration refused to pay Curtis, and City Council sued the mayor in September because of that failure to pay.
However, that legal dispute might soon come to an end. City Council on Wednesday advanced a proposal to hire Philadelphia law firm Duane Morris to carry out the rest of Curtis’ investigation into the NAACP’s allegations. Some council members said hiring the new firm would put to rest the legal dispute between council and the mayor, and save the city money on court-related legal fees.
Council member Santo Napoli said that when the city hires a lawyer, it does not have to go through a legal procurement “request for proposals” process, which is why hiring that firm would resolve the dispute. Lawyers for both the city administration and city council negotiated the Duane Morris proposal as a compromise to end the dispute.
Council members scheduled a meeting for Jan. 29 to vote on hiring Duane Morris to conduct the investigation.
However, some residents and council members questioned that move, saying Curtis should continue the investigation that he began working on it last year, despite not being paid by the city because of the legal dispute over his hire.
“What happened to the old investigation? You all agreed to have [Curtis’] company to come up and do the investigation. He was six months into the investigation, so I don’t understand what’s going on,” Allentown NAACP Secretary Barbara Redmond said.
This story has been updated with corrected information about the reason Scott Curtis’ firm was originally disqualified via the city’s request for proposals process. The city’s request for proposals did not specifically seek a law firm to conduct the investigation, as a previous version of this article indicated.
Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.