After 18 Years on 'Most Wanted' List, Fugitive Pleads Guilty to Murder

Francisco Miranda eluded law enforcement for 18 years in the 1994 South Bethlehem killing of Jorge Velazquez. Now, he will spend the next 10-20 years in prison.

  A man who spent 18 years on Pennsylvania’s "Most Wanted" List has pleaded guilty to a 1994 murder in a South Bethlehem parking lot. Francisco G. Miranda, 50, was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison after pleading guilty to third-degree murder, according to published reports. Under the terms of a plea bargain, Miranda will serve the maximum sentence that would have been allowed at the time of the murder, according to The Morning Call. Miranda eluded authorities while he lived in the Dominican Republic but he didn’t flee the country on his own, the newspaper reported. New Jersey officials unwittingly deported Miranda—just weeks after the Bethlehem homicide—after he was arrested on drug charges under an assumed name, according to …

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Man Hurt in Beverly Hills Road Crash, Police Say

Pennsylvania State Police at Fogelsville say a Perkasie man was injured when he crashed his car in Lower Milford Township Saturday afternoon.

A 21-year-old Perkasie man suffered moderate injuries when he crashed his car on Beverly Hills Road in Lower Milford Township Saturday, Pennsylvania State Police at Fogelsville announced in a press release. According to police, the man was eastbound on Beverly Hills Road at about 3:45 p.m. when, for unknown reasons, he crossed over the westbound lane and struck first a speed limit sign and then a tree. Police said that after striking the tree, the man's car overturned and rolled down an embankment, coming to rest about 60 feet north of the roadway. The car suffered major damage and was towed, and the man was taken to St. Luke's University Hospital in Bethlehem for treatment, police said. The accident happened in the area of Beverly Hills …

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Teacher to Face Child Sex Abuse Charges in Court

A judge has ruled that charges against substitute teacher Michael James Agrippine of Upper Saucon Township will move to county court. Agrippine is charged with molesting a boy in an Allentown elementary school bathroom in January.

A substitute teacher from Upper Saucon Township who is charged with sexually assaulting a boy in an Allentown elementary school bathroom in January will have to face the charges against him in Lehigh County Court, District Judge Ron Manescu ruled Friday according to an article published by the Morning Call. Michael James Agrippine, 47, denies the charges, although his arrest affidavit indicated that he confessed to committing the assault, the article stated. Agrippine, who is charged with indecent assault, aggravated indecent assault and institutional sexual assault, is free on $75,000 bail, according to an Express-Times article that cited court records. He had been working as a substitute teacher in the Allentown School District for about…

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Missing Student Last Known to Be in Vera Cruz Road Area

Matthew Royer, 21, left his apartment at the University of Rhode Island on Thursday and has not been seen since.

  Police are asking for help in locating a missing Skippack man who hasn’t been heard from since leaving his Rhode Island college on Thursday. Pennsylvania State Police say that Matthew R. Royer, 21, left the University of Rhode Island on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. en route to his Skippack Township home, but has not been heard from since. Royer is 6-feet-1 and 160 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes, and police believe he is driving a silver 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt. Royer’s last cell phone activity was traced to somewhere near Vera Cruz Road in Lehigh County, according to a WFMZ report. Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is asked to contact the Skippack Barracks of the Pennsylvania State Police at 610-584-1250. Subscribe to our …

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Coopersburg Fire Co. Looking for Members

Coopersburg Fire Company hoping to recruit associate members and fire police personnel. Call 610-282-1580 for information about how to become a member.

According to information posted on the Coopersburg Borough website: "Coopersburg Fire Company #1 grew from a hand drawn fire engine and seven volunteer fire fighters to a modern four bay home for fire engines and pumpers at 13 S. Main Street with its social quarters in the landmark house at the corner of East State and Main Street. The Coopersburg Ambulance Corps operates from a well-equipped building next to the Borough Hall on E. State Street."

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Boy Egged Car on Saucon Valley Road, Police Say

Police say a 17-year-old boy threw an egg at a car at Saucon Valley and Weyhill Farm roads.

A 17-year-old boy from Schnecksville was charged with criminal mischief after police said he threw an egg at a car at Saucon Valley and Weyhill Farm roads in Lower Saucon Township. In a news release, Lower Saucon police said the driver of the vehicle that was egged was a woman from New Jersey. Police said the egging, which occurred May 4 at 11:45 p.m., caused damage to the woman's vehicle.

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Pre-Paid Debit Card Scam Targets Elderly, Police Say

Lower Saucon Township Police have issued a warning to local residents about a Jamaica-based telephone scam involving the 'Green Dot Money Pak' prepaid debit card.

Lower Saucon Township Police are warning residents to be alert to a new type of telephone scam, which they say targets older residents in more affluent areas. A township woman was the attempted victim of the scam May 10, police said in a press release. Typically, police said, the "nationwide" scam works in this way: "The victim is left with a piece of plastic," police said, adding that scam artists typically use either coercion—i.e., threatening to come to the home—or the promise of prize winnings to convince a targeted individual to buy the prepaid debit card. Anyone who receives this type of call should report it to their local police department and not purchase the prepaid debit card as instructed to do, police added.

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Lehigh Valley OMG PD

OMG PD: House Painter Stole Picasso Drawing, Police Say

Here's a round-up of unusual police news from the Lehigh Valley.

House painter stole Picasso artwork, police say: Prosecutors in New York said an Easton man stole $100,000 worth of artwork—including a piece by Picasso—from an estate he had been hired to paint. The 42-year-old man is charged with grand larceny, money laundering and identity theft in two different New York counties, and faces up to 26 years in prison, according to a news release from the Kings County, N.Y. (Brooklyn) district attorney's office. Babysitters leave child home alone, steal laptop and cash, police say: A South Bethlehem couple who left their 10-month-old daughter in the care of a nephew and his friend returned home to find their infant home alone and that they had been cleaned out of $1,500 cash, a laptop computer and a video …

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Garage Fire Extinguished in Upper Saucon

A YouTube video by Jayson Wagner shows the volunteer response to a garage fire that broke out on a property near Routes 378 and 309 in Upper Saucon Township.

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