LehighValleyLive.com: Bethlehem police apologize, DA says more needs to be done after middle school cop arrest

By Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com

Updated: May. 15, 2024, 5:58 p.m. | Published: May. 15, 2024, 5:16 p.m.

Bethlehem police offered apologies and assurances after a now-former police officer was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a student at the middle school he was assigned to patrol.

Northampton County District Attorney Stephen Baratta at a news conference Wednesday afternoon announcing the arrest of Costas Alestas acknowledged this is the second school resource officer charged criminally in three weeks’ time.

“This shouldn’t happen and I believe that my office and the superintendents of the various school districts need to sit down and talk about this issue,” Baratta told reporters and TV news crews inside the Bethlehem Town Hall meeting space. “This happened on two occasions this year now. And I think the school district owes it to their children to make sure they have the policies and procedures in effect that prevent as best they can opportunities for this kind of behavior.”

Alestas, 43, of Palmer Township, was ordered jailed on $500,000 bail and faces five felonies for allegedly familiarizing a student at East Hills Middle School with sexual talk then assaulting her, including while in full uniform at a dance he was paid overtime to patrol. He faces a sixth charge, misdemeanor invasion of privacy, for allegedly recording “an ‘upskirt’ type video” of a second victim, using his phone while inside East Hills.

Alestas’ attorney on Wednesday asked that his client’s privacy be respected and noted he is presumed innocent and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The charges come after Baratta’s office on April 24 announced the arrest of Palmer Township police officer John “J.T.” Smoke, who had been assigned to Easton Area High School, on a misdemeanor charge of corruption of minors. Smoke is alleged to have sent a sexually explicit image of himself to an underage student with whom he’d been communicating.

Baratta said it was with a “heavy heart” that he and Bethlehem police officers gathered Wednesday to discuss the arrest of Alestas, who has been fired.

“The Bethlehem Police Department extends our sincere apologies to anyone affected by this incident,” police Chief Michelle Kott told the news conference. “We remain committed to transparency and accountability as we navigate through this difficult process.”

The Bethlehem Area School District on its website posted a response to Wednesday’s news conference, detailing its actions immediately after the allegations came to light against Alestas, who also coached soccer at East Hills.

“The Bethlehem Area School District became aware of allegations related to Officer Alestas on the afternoon of Monday, April 29, 2024, when a student shared information with their guidance counselor,” the district stated. “The guidance counselor, as per District protocols, immediately informed school officials, and contacted Childline to begin an investigation. The next day, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, the counselor also filed a CY47 Report with Northampton County Children and Youth to continue the investigation.

“On Wednesday, May 1, 2024, the District informed the Bethlehem Police Department of the reported allegations and the Children and Youth referral. The District and the Bethlehem Police Department worked in tandem to place Officer Alestas on administrative leave from both organizations. The District deactivated the Officer’s access to all District resources. The District immediately shared all reported information with the Bethlehem Police Department’s investigating officers.”

Bethlehem Area schools Superintendent Jack Silva and Easton Area schools Superintendent Tracy Piazza both told lehighvalleylive.com following the news conference they would be open to further discussions as suggested by the district attorney. Piazza declined to address the Easton Area School District’s situation directly.

Silva in an email wrote, “The district is always open to ‘after action reviews’ related to difficult cases, this would be no exception.”

Baratta said the two school resource officer arrests appear “part of troubling nationwide epidemic, it seems, with regard to teachers, coaches and in this case school resource officers who groom children to engage in sexual relations.” But the incidents did not occur in a vacuum, he said. The officers were able to isolate their victims in secret to advance their objectives, Baratta said, citing the allegations.

“These in-school actions and communications went undiscovered by the school officials,” the prosecutor, a Democrat elected last fall, said.

As authorities continue to investigate the incidents, Baratta suggested there is no instance in which school resource officers should be alone with students. Schools have counselors to counsel students, and any investigative interview of a minor would need to be done with a parent, guardian or attorney present, he said.

Authorities are continuing to investigate both school district incidents. Baratta said that includes whether “there may have been other children who were contacted by these offenders” and that he had some questions that needed answers. He noted there was no reason to believe any school officials were involved in any criminal activity or had violated their duties or responsibilities to children.

Baratta said school resource officers can continue to interact with students, but seemed troubled by the back-to-back months of arrests.

“And that calls into question an issue with regard to screening and whether perhaps law enforcement and school officials should sit down and talk about how we can better screen people who we use as SROs at this point,” the district attorney said. “We don’t want to see this happen again.”

Kott voiced her full support for school resource officers and noted that “predators out there” can be found in any profession.

“I don’t think that there is an answer out there to prevent this definitively ... from occurring again,” the police chief said. “We just have to work hard as we’re doing to ensure that we put the proper people in place and when an allegation comes forward we take decisive action that we did with our Bethlehem Area School District partners and put that individual on leave and fully investigate it to our capacity.”

She closed the news conference with advice to parents: “Absolutely look at your children’s electronic devices. I am a mother of two, and I am constantly screening my son’s iPad and anything that they touch — their Xbox and their Playstation. Just be vigilant. Be vigilant.”

Bethlehem police Capt. Nicholas Lechman asked anyone with additional information about Alestas to contact investigators at 610-865-7000 or bethlehempolice@bethlehem-pa.gov or to use the department’s 610-691-6660 tip line.