ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Two Allentown police officers' whistleblower lawsuit against the police department is set to have its day in court despite being thrown out last month.
Lawyers for the Allentown Police Department and the officers suing it are due in court on the morning of New Year's Eve.
A Lehigh County judge on Oct. 21 dismissed the litigation filed by Allentown police officers Randy Fey and David Howells III.
But the court vacated that dismissal and scheduled a hearing for 10 a.m. Dec. 31. The officers’ attorney, Dennis Charles, asked for reconsideration after arguing the lawsuit was dismissed over a “technicality” and not its merits.
Charles told LehighValleyNews.com the suit was dismissed after one of his electronic legal filings was rejected because it was missing a signature.
Fey and Howells, through their suit, allege they faced retaliation from police officials after making numerous attempts to report widespread criminal activity within the Allentown Police Department’s Vice and Intelligence Unit.
The whistleblower lawsuit details one alleged theft at the center of recently filed felony charges against a former Allentown Vice officer.
Fey alleges he was removed from the Vice unit in 2020 and in 2023 after reporting his colleagues, while Howells was transferred out of the unit in October 2023 and demoted to patrolman, the Allentown Police Department’s lowest rank.
More than a dozen Allentown police officials, including current Chief Charles Roca and three former chiefs, are named as defendants in the suit.
The officers’ allegations included vice detectives interfering with investigations, having sexual relationships with prostitutes and stealing money during searches.
Former Vice officer charged
The whistleblower lawsuit details one alleged theft at the center of recently filed felony charges against a former Allentown Vice officer.
Jason Michael Krasley, 47, of Upper Milford Township, was charged Nov. 15 with theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property, as well as a misdemeanor count of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
Authorities allege Krasley stole $5,500 during a May 2019 search at a Hamilton Street barbershop while Vice officers were searching for money, drugs, paraphernalia and other evidence related to illegal trafficking.
An inventory receipt showed Vice officers seized $16,000 in cash from the barbershop, but a later receipt indicated $10,500 was taken, according to an affidavit.
That legal filing says Krasley was one of several Allentown officers involved in the search.
Police realized the money was missing the same day it was stolen, and "an investigation into the missing money has determined that Krasley stole the money," the affidavit says.
But no charges were filed for more than five years.
Roca has said Allentown police consulted with the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office when it was reported in 2019; that resulted in internal and criminal investigations, but no charges.
The charges earlier this month came after the case went before a Lehigh County investigating grand jury, which heard testimony by First Assistant District Attorney Eric Dowdle, according to Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan.
Krasley was arraigned and released on $100,000 unsecured bail. He’s due in district court Dec. 5 for a preliminary hearing.
The lawsuit alleges Krasley was involved in another Vice search in which money was stolen.
Vice officers seized $20,000 from an Allentown home in September 2018, according to department paperwork, but Howells later learned police took $40,000 during the search, according to the suit.
Krasley was one of two Vice officers who filed the inventory paperwork from that search, according to the lawsuit. No charges have been filed in connection with that case.
