A city employee in Allentown, Pennsylvania, has been caught in a race hoax, this time planting a noose on her own desk and reporting a hate crime.
A City of Allentown employee, 42-year-old LaTarsha Brown, is facing charges of making false reports and tampering with/fabricating physical evidence after she planted a noose on her own desk at City Hall.
Allentown city hall employee charged with planting noose on her own desk in January. LaTarsha Brown charged with fabricating physical evidence & false report to law enforcement. Allentown Police say Brown asked “the investigation be discontinued” after city employees on her… pic.twitter.com/FLPToNmh7x
— Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) March 24, 2025
Brown called the Allentown Police Department on January 10, 2025, to report that an item resembling a noose had been found on her work desk. The police affidavit shows that Brown told officers that she found a small item on her desk that she did not recognize when she had sat down at the desk to check her email at 7 a.m. that day.
She then picked up the item, took pictures of it, then sent those photos to coworkers to show what she had supposedly found on her desk. Brown proceeded to send a six-paragraph email to several people, including her bosses and the human resources department, at around 7:30 to discuss the matter. Crime scene unit officers with the Allentown Police Department soon arrived at Brown’s office to collect the noose-like item as evidence.
Immediately after Brown reported finding the supposed noose on her desk, Pennsylvania Democrats jumped to push their usual racist narrative, with Allentown city council member Ce-Ce Gerlach whining about black people not being “safe.”
“Our employees are not safe. The black employees are not safe. It’s everyone,” Gerlach declared in January, adding: “It’s the white allies [who] are not safe. Brown people are not safe. Gay people are not safe. Anyone in any marginalized community when you are working in a building in which a noose was found, you are not safe.”
Police called Brown in for questioning on January 14, where she told them that she had only picked up the noose and flipped it over in her hand, but not “much more than that,” according to the affidavit. However, the affidavit also states that Brown was refusing to cooperate with the investigation beyond that, noting that she gave “vague statements” and “deceptive answers” and also refused to voluntarily provide a DNA sample. She also reportedly “requested that the investigation be discontinued.”
The police then obtained a search warrant for Brown’s DNA, and a DNA analysis report from the Pennsylvania State Police Bethlehem Crime Lab indicated that Brown’s DNA matched samples taken from the noose. Investigators also interviewed and DNA tested nine other employees who work on the same floor as Brown and were there during the hours that the noose was supposedly planted, but none of their DNA profiles showed up on the noose.
NEW: Allentown, Pennsylvania employee LaTarsha Brown charged after placing a noose at her own desk to stage a hate crime.
Jussie Smollett would be proud.
About two months ago, Brown reported finding a noose at her desk at City Hall.
Police requested DNA samples of people who… pic.twitter.com/EEoN4t3CjA
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 24, 2025
Shockingly, despite being charged with faking a hate crime, Brown is still employed by the city, not only at City Hall but also as a member of the school board.
Brown is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing in the case on April 22.
