Lehigh-Area Drug Dealer Gets Life In Jail For 2000 Father's Day Shooting

A one-time resident of the Lehigh Valley will spend the rest of his life in federal prison for killing a man at a Father's Day cookout more than 20 years ago, authorities announced.

Ralph Berry, a 55-year-old with ties to Bethlehem and Allentown, will spend the rest of his life in prison for his role in a deadly shooting on Father's Day in 2000, authorities say. Pictured is the US Attorney's Office for SDNY.
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Mac Bullock

12/13/2022 2:42 p.m.

Ralph Berry, 55, was arrested in Bethlehem in 2020 and convicted at trial in September 2021, said the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

Prosecutors say Berry was involved in selling and disturbing crack cocaine in the Bronx in 2000 when he ordered Frank Lopez, now 46, to shoot and kill a rival drug dealer near 751 East 161st Street on June 21.

Caprice Jones, a bystander attending a Father's Day picnic, was struck in the crossfire and was paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. He eventually died from his wounds a decade later in 2010, the US Attorney's Office said.

While Berry was taken into custody in Bethlehem two years ago, it's not clear if he was a resident of the city at the time of his arrest. State court records show Berry was living in Allentown in 2011, though it's not obvious when or if he moved away.

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