Posted December 29, 2017 at 07:00 AM | Updated December 29, 2017 at 07:08 AM
By Rudy Miller | For lehighvalleylive.com
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A walk on the weird side
2017 brought its share of unusual crimes. From bank robbers impersonating nuns to a burglar distracting homeowners with a dead baby squirrel to a Confederate flag freak-out, these crimes raised eyebrows for lehighvalleylive.com readers last year.
Teachers’ lounge trespass
Were Pleasant Valley School District administrators trying to catch a loafing janitor or were they spying on teachers? That’s a question that could head to a jury after charges were filed Dec. 18 against Joshua Krebs, the district’s supervisor of support staff. He allegedly put a surveillance camera in the high school teachers’ lounge on April 5 to see whether a janitor was slacking on the job, but left it running for 24 hours and watched video of teachers in what was supposed to be their private area. A grand jury also recommended illegal recording charges against Alex Sterenchok, the technology supervisor, but no charges are posted on the online court docket.
The strange story of 2 young women who feds say held up a bank dressed as nuns
Bad habits
Two women dressed as nuns robbed the Citizens Bank on Aug. 28 in Pocono Township, Monroe County. Law enforcement sources told nj.com they believe the pair are the same two women charged with robbing banks in Garfield, New Jersey, on Sept. 27 and Teaneck, New Jersey, on Oct. 15. Swahilys Pedraza-Rodriguez, of New Haven, Connecticut, and Melisa Aquino Arias, of the Dominican Republic, have charges pending in federal court for the New Jersey robberies but haven’t been charged for the Pennsylvania one. One of the ladies allegedly wore a hijab Muslim head scarf for the Garfield crime while the other had no head covering. One allegedly wore a blue hijab at the Teaneck crime and the other wore a black covering.
Towanna Johnson
He gave her a brake
Towanna Johnson didn’t realize the bus she boarded in Bethlehem didn’t stop where she wanted it to, according to police. So she started yelling at the driver demanding he stop anyway, police said. The driver allegedly told her to know her route next time, and the 46-year-old Bethlehem woman allegedly threw coffee on him, took out a gun, pointed it at him and said “I got something for you,” before getting off the bus. She was ordered to stand trial in Northampton County Court for the Sept. 2 incident.