ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown Police Department and some of its top officials are facing a torrent of claims they fostered a culture of corruption and covered up numerous crimes by officers.
Officers Randy Fey and David Howells III late last month filed a 47-page whistleblower lawsuit that alleges widespread criminal activity within the department’s Vice and Intelligence Unit over the past decade and a half.
Allegations include detectives having relationships with prostitutes, stealing money during searches and interfering with local and federal investigations.
The lawsuit identifies 17 Allentown police officials, including Chief Charles Roca and former Chiefs Glenn Granitz, Glen Dorney and Keith Morris; five assistant chiefs and six captains.
Fey first learned of coverups within the police department’s vice unit in 2010 after he was contacted by a defense attorney whose client claimed to have a relationship with a detective in the unit, he alleges in the lawsuit.
That detective was transferred out of the unit and soon after retired “with no adverse consequences,” the lawsuit states.
Fey alleges his then-supervisor “confirmed the existence of a de facto policy … to conceal and shield [officers] from criminal prosecution.”
That policy again was evident when Fey reported another supervisor after walking into the vice unit and “find[ing] him with his pants down while on the telephone and engaging in ‘questionable behavior,’” the lawsuit...
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