Former City of Allentown employee Latarsha Brown has admitted to planting a noose on her own desk and falsely reporting it as a hate crime. The incident garnered major public backlash, particularly in the wake of other racial discrimination allegations against senior City officials in recent years.
On January 10, Brown arrived at her office in Allentown City Hall around 7 AM. She called police about 30 minutes later to report an item resembling a noose on her desk.
All other employees on Brown’s floor of the building agreed to DNA testing. Brown, who initially cooperated, refused to provide a DNA swab and later asked for the investigation to be closed. The Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office issued a search warrant to retrieve a DNA sample…