Four people have been taken into custody in relation to the 2023 stabbing death of a 29-year-old man at a hookah lounge in Allentown.
Charges in the June 18, 2023 incident include Jerome Briggs Joyner, 40, of the 700 block of Laufer Street in Bethlehem; Kali Nicole Martin, of the 800 block of Second Street in Whitehall; and Slefhon Christ Buchanan, 28, of the 400 block of West Tilghman Street and Robin L. Scott, 48, of the 600 block of North Penn Street, both in Allentown.
Joyner, Martin, Buchanan, and Scott are all charged with one count of misdemeanor evidence tampering. According to court documents, the co-defendants were each mailed summonses on Wednesday after charges were brought against them in June.
Joyner was freed on his own recognizance after being arraigned before District Judge Michael D. Amore on Thursday morning. Additionally, D. Amore was to arraign Buchanan, Scott, and Martin on Thursday.
Scott’s defense lawyer, Jeremy-Evan Alva, of Montgomery County, Bala Cynwyd, was not immediately available for comment Thursday morning. There was no information on an attorney for Buchanan, Martin, or Joyner in the court files.
About a mile from the Allentown-Bethlehem line, at the Synergy Hookah Lounge, 1522 Union Blvd., the stabbing occurred just before three in the morning on June 18, 2023.
According to city police, a brawl broke out inside the lounge, and 29-year-old Kevin Tarafa was stabbed. After being stabbed in the chest, Tarafa was discovered outdoors, approximately one block from the event, and was declared dead at the scene.
Lehigh County Coroner Daniel A. Buglio declared the manner of death to be a homicide after Tarafa suffered several stab wounds.
Following the stabbing, investigators left the hookah lounge. Isiah Yeager, now 25 years old, of Allentown was subsequently taken into custody by police and charged with criminal homicide in connection with Tarafa’s stabbing.
According to court documents, Yeager was refused bond and is still being held at the Lehigh County Jail for his homicide trial.
According to court documents, investigators were able to collect video security evidence that showed Buchanan, Martin, and Joyner wiping blood off the floor shortly after Tarafa departed the venue.
After witnessing the driver, later identified as Scott, reportedly picking up two guys who were leaving the hookah lounge in a suspicious manner, investigators pulled over a 2010 Mercedes-Benz.
A search warrant for the Mercedes was obtained by investigators. A green-and-black folding knife wrapped in a hooded sweatshirt was found on the floor behind the driver’s seat, according to the police. According to the affidavit of probable cause, the knife also had muscle tissue and blood spots on the blade that matched Tarafa and Scott’s DNA. The evidence and witness statements in a case are laid forth in the court record.
Buchanan, Scott, and Joyner are all expected to return to court for a preliminary hearing before D. Amore later on Thursday. Martin is expected to return to court for a preliminary hearing before D. Amore on October 2 at 10 a.m.
Next, a judge will decide if there is enough evidence to proceed with a trial in each of the cases in the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas.
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You can contact Pamela Sroka-Holzmann at [email protected].
