Ex-School Official Spied on Colleagues, Police Say

Forks Township police said former technology director's computer taken for analysis from Easton Area School District administration office.

A former Easton Area School District official is under investigation for allegedly spying on his colleagues. Forks Township police seized two computers used by Thomas Drago, the district's former director of technology, police chief Greg Dorney said Monday. Court records say Drago accessed computers owned by Easton Area Superintendent Susan McGinley and other school employees without permission. He also allegedly had photos of a female co-worker's breasts, court documents say. In addition, police say Drago made an unauthorized recording of a closed school board meeting. "With the guidance and direction of the (Northampton County) District Attorney’s Office, our agency with the assistance of the PA State Police, served two search warrants …

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Police: Man Banned From Giant Steals Again

Despite being barred from the grocery store chain, Joseph Savarino allegedly returned to Forks Giant and stole again.

An Easton man banned from Giant grocery stores due to numerous shoplifting arrests is accused of stealing from the Forks Township Giant. Joseph Savarino, 46, of 655 Spring Garden St., is charged with retail theft and criminal trespass. According to police, Savarino was caught stealing $123 worth of groceries on Sept. 18. Court records indicate he had been banned from Giant stores due to seven previous shoplifting charges.  It was unclear why charges were being filed two months after Savarino's arrest.

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Police Blotter

Police Explode a Pipe Bomb Found in Forks Township

Police explode a shrapnel-filled pipe bomb found this morning at 1526 Hedgerow Court in Forks Township. The bomb had a cigarette for a timer.

At 11:50 this morning, police exploded a pipe bomb that was found in the yard of a Forks Township house. "It was the real deal," said Forks Police Chief Greg Dorney. Dorney described the device as a 6-inch cylinder, wrapped in duct tape, with an 8- to 10-inche wick and a cigarette attached to it. The cigarette was the trigger mechanism, he said. "The cigarette was a timing device and someone had tried to light it," Dorney said. "It was intended to go off." Officials are working with ATF agents and have searched the area, but found no other devices. There are no suspects at this time, and police do not know if there was an intended target. Police were called to the bucolic neighborhood at 8:34 a.m. to investigate what was described as a …

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Police Blotter

Forks Couple Charged With Operating Meth Lab

Donika Douris and David Link, both of 2615 Old River Road, were arrested Saturday morning for operating a meth lab at the residence where they live with three children.

A Forks Township couple, who have three children living with them, were arrested this morning for operating a meth lab in their house. Donika Douris, 38, and David Link, 54, both of 2615 Old River Rd., were arrested at about 6:30 a.m. after a month-long investigation involving the State Police as well as Forks and Easton Police Departments. Investigators seized drugs, scales, chemicals to produce drugs, 40 firearms and a silencer, according to a release from Easton Police. The children, all under 18, were discovered in a room next to the lab. Douris and Link were charged with operating a methamphetamine laboratory, the unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine with a child present, possession of methamphetamine  chemicals, possession of a …

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Police Blotter

Driver Caught in the Right Car with the Wrong Registration

Forks Township police stop a 19-year-old driver who had altered the license plate on his uninsured and unregistered Chevrolet Tracker.

With his father looking on, a 19-year-old Easton man admitted to Forks Township police that he altered the license plate of his uninsured vehicle, which also had an expired registration, and was driving with a suspended license, according to court records. Clinton Ball III of 1207 Jackson St. said he put a June 2012 registration sticker from another vehicle onto his license plate because he hadn’t transferred the title and needed a vehicle. Ball, who was stopped Jan. 2 around 7pm on Sullivan Trail at Old Mill Road in his green Chevrolet Tracker, told police he bought the vehicle about a week earlier and did not transfer the registration because he did not have the money to do it. The registration expired July 2011. Police stopped Ball’s …

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Forks Man Threatens to Blow up Police

A Forks Township man barricaded himself inside his home and then opened the gas lines.

Forks Township Police helped to talk a man out of his home Wednesday evening after he had threatened to blow up the neighborhood, according to police reports. Jeffrey Matthews, 42, of 4205 Shadowstone Dr. had barricaded himself in his home and released the gas line from an appliance, letting fumes enter the house. Police report that Matthews talked about “striking a match and taking all of them with him.” Forks police and the State Police responded at 2:08 p.m. to a call to check on the welfare of Matthews. Itwas reported to police that he had threatened to hurt himself.  When police arrived, they noticed a strong odor of natural gas. Five homes were evacuated and officers, with the help of UGI Utilities, turned off the gas during the …

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Forks Man Killed in Crash on Bushkill Drive

The family of Donald James Kiernan, the driver killed in a crash off Bushkill Drive Wednesday, met with Forks Township police this morning.

This article was updated at 5 p.m. Dec. 15 to include a statement from the Northampton County Coroner's Office. A driver traveling on Bushkill Drive in Forks Township at about 5:45 p.m. Wednesday crossed Uhler Road and hit a stone wall head on, according to police. The blue Toyota Camry was occupied only by the driver, Donald James Kiernan, 70, of 700 Kykuit Place in Forks. The coroner’s office was called to the scene where emergency responders performed CPR on James, according to the police report. The coroner's report stated the cause of death as "a natural disease process along with injuries from blunt force trauma." Meaning an attack of some kind occurred before the accident, but the coroner's office did not characterize it as a heart …

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