Democrat Lawmaker Arrested On Dozens Of Felony Drug Charges

Zachary Borghi, a Democratic Party commissioner in the Pennsylvania community of Lehigh, is facing dozens of felony charges in connection with an ongoing narcotics investigation.

Borghi, who also previously served as the City of Bethlehem’s right-to-know officer was taken into custody without incident at his home or in the area and arraigned late last month. He remains in Lehigh County Jail after failing to post $500,000 bail.

The charges include 89 counts of criminal use of a communications facility, 14 counts of delivery of a controlled substance (cocaine), and one count of delivery of a controlled substance. The latter charge was in connection with a delivery of psilocybin mushrooms.

According to the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office, these charges arose from a forensic review of Borghi’s cellphone and Apple iCloud data covering the period from November 2023 through August 2025. Authorities allege that text messages showed Borghi arranging drug transactions from multiple locations, including his Bethlehem home, a relative’s residence in Bethlehem, Bethlehem City Hall (where he was employed at the time), and Upper Saucon Township.

Specific allegations include facilitating a drug transaction during a Lehigh County Board of Commissioners meeting — which was corroborated through messages matching a video recording of the meeting — and during a “Peace and Justice Symposium” presented by the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute at Northampton Community College, prosecutors said.

Zachary Cole-Borghi dem Lehigh County Commissioner is facing more than 100 new charges in connection with a large scale drug investigation. He is accused of selling cocaine from his home & Bethlehem City Hall. Just how corrupt are all these politicians? pic.twitter.com/GjqDXnQB1B

— RockyMtMama (@RockyMtMama1) March 30, 2026

Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan stated that the grand jury investigation initially placed Borghi on investigators’ radar, after which additional evidence was developed. “The grand jury put him on our radar and then additional investigation, additional evidence was obtained after the jury ended, and that led to today’s charges,” Holihan said.

He also provided additional details on the evidence relating to the commissioners’ meeting. “Commissioners’ meetings are recorded on video. And we were able to look at the video and link that up to the cellphone messages that were recovered, and they seemed to correspond to the same exact time frame on the same exact day,” he said.

The arrest follows Borghi’s initial involvement in a larger multi-state drug investigation conducted by the Lehigh County 12th Investigating Grand Jury into an organization known as “Death Before Dirt,” which authorities described as a high-volume marijuana distribution operation spanning Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

The probe also allegedly involved the manufacture of knockoff luxury clothing items.

Borghi was one of 22 individuals arrested in August 2025 in connection with the initial probe. He was initially charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and simple possession of marijuana.

He was released after posting $50,000 bail. Court records for those initial charges were sealed during the ongoing grand jury phase. Borghi was not charged with participating in a corrupt organization, unlike some other defendants in the case, according to a report from the Allentown Morning Call.

Following the initial arrest, Borghi issued a public statement denying the allegations. “I want to be clear, I have never sold drugs to anyone, vehemently deny any suggestion to the contrary, and insist that I will prove my innocence,” he said.

He added that the charges were “wrong, a violation of my constitutional due process rights, and clearly political.”

Despite the charges, he was reelected to a second term as commissioner in November 2025, but was ultimately terminated following the second arrest. As of early April 2026, Borghi remains listed on the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners website, though without additional profile details

Borghi has not issued a statement on the March arrest as of this report.

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