PA. City employees accused of planting Nous reported that she was a hate crime.

Latarsha Brown, a black Pennsylvania employee, was charged with planting a rope she reported as a hate crime against her on Monday.

Allentown Police have charged Brown with false reports, tampering with physical evidence and false reports, according to the Daily Caller, a misdemeanor of “putting up to three years in prison and fines together.”

Nooth Report

On the morning of January 10th, Brown reported that when police arrived at work at the Allentown Community Economic Development Bureau, they found what police called “a small item that resembles a rope.”

Brown – Members of the Allentown School Board also posted on Instagram that they are “deeply committed to diversity, equity and inclusion,” but were also parties to a complaint by the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee, which argues racism and discrimination by city officials. Councillor Ed Zucal told WFMZ-TV that Brown “will be holding an arbitration hearing the day before the incident.” The station added, “It is unknown if the meeting took place.”

Brown's apparent motive for “proof” racism may think that the Allentown government, coupled with the frequency with which such “hate crimes” were found to be hoaxes, will lead her potential allies to adopt a waiting approach to her allegations rather than accepting them immediately.

But that wasn't because crying “racism” and “white hegemony” requires a lot of gain in a given quarter. For example, Brown “discovered” the rope, Councillor Ce-Ce Gerlach told WFMZ that she was “angry” about it.

She said:

Those who do this need to be charged by the federal government, they need to be charged with hate crimes, they need to be arrested and fired immediately. We need to take this as seriously as possible. Our employees are not safe. Black employees are not safe. Everyone. White allies are not safe. Brown people are not safe. Gay people are not safe.

Deceived rags

Three days later, “dozens” of protesters appeared “outside Allentown City Hall” and demanded a “federal investigation” against Brown's allegations, Lehighvalleynews reported.

“Community Activist Path Simpson” said the investigation “has to go to the federal government because this is a hate crime.” Simpson added that “urg (ed) residents will be flooding the FBI tip line and will be present” at the next city council meeting.

The call to the FBI worked. Three days later, the agency announced that it would take part in the investigation.

Simpson also accused police of calling Nooth a “small item.”

“They have the nerve to write “a little rope,” Simpson said. “The rope is a rope, and it's all mean.”

Other activists have similarly threw wild accusations.

Josie Lopez, who organized the protest, accused Allentown Mayor Matt Turku of negligence on suspicion of hate crimes as he suspends discrimination lawsuits filed against him and instead persuaded the council to launch a new, independent investigation into the charges.

Pennsylvania Legislature members Black Caucus (PLBC) and Pennsylvania Human Relations Committee (PHRC) also participated in the Act. (Brown is the PHRC's “Social Justice Ambassador.”) Among them was State Representative Ismail Smith-Wade-El, secretary of the PLCB. The Democrat said:

This act is the very spirit of Pennsylvania being founded, tolerant, and sacrifices the memories of many men, women, children, and victims of all white hegemony that have been lynched across the nation. We're not back, and we're not back. Hatred has no place here.

Except for hatred towards white people, of course.

Fake rope

It became clear very early in the investigation that Nous was a hoax, and so was the motivation behind Brown's planting.

Court records show Brown claimed that she didn't even know that what she found at her desk was a “rope hanging from a slave,” Lehighvalleylive reported. Brown said she “googled it on Google” to learn the name, but investigators found no record of such a search.

Brown also told police that “I feel the entire office has a problem with racism,” identifying racist employees who she thought might have left a rope on her desk.

Furthermore, she allegedly claimed she barely touched the rope.

However, according to a press release from Allentown Police on Monday,

During the investigation, when Brown left the afternoon of January 9, 2025 and arrived on the morning of January 10, video surveillance and building access control records were reviewed to identify city employees on the third floor of City Hall. All city employees agreed, except for Brown. Brown, who was originally a cooperative, later requested that the investigation be stopped. (Added emphasis.)

Officers had to obtain a warrant to obtain Brown's DNA. When they did it, the jig was up. The State Police Crime Institute has discovered Brown's DNA “in both the outer surface and the inner knot of the nut, and on both the inner knot after it falls apart,” the press release said. “No other person's DNA profiles (sics) were found.”

In short, assuming the government's allegations were true, Brown tied up the rope, placed it on a desk, and reported it as a hate crime. And all the regular suspects fell for it.

Brown is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on April 22nd.