Lehigh County commissioner arraigned on 104 drug felonies; bail set at $500,000
Lehigh County Commissioner Zachary Cole-Borghi was arraigned Wednesday on more than 100 new felony charges after prosecutors alleged he conducted drug transactions for nearly two years — including texting a cocaine supplier during a board of commissioners meeting and selling drugs from the parking lot of Bethlehem City Hall.
Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan announced the charges at an 11:30 a.m. news conference Wednesday. Bail in the four new criminal cases was set at a total of $500,000 — three cases at $100,000 each and one at $200,000.
Cole-Borghi was unable to post bail, leaving him confined to Lehigh County Jail as of Wednesday.
Cole-Borghi, 35, of Bethlehem, faces 104 felony counts across four newly filed criminal complaints: 89 counts of criminal use of a communications facility, 14 counts of delivery of cocaine and one count of delivery of psilocybin mushrooms, Holihan said.
The charges stem from a forensic analysis of Cole-Borghi’s cellphone and Apple iCloud records, which prosecutors said revealed text messages documenting drug transactions from November 2023 through August 2025.
According to the criminal complaints, those records showed Cole-Borghi arranging drug deals from Bethlehem City Hall, where he previously worked as the city’s open records officer. On April 23, 2025, he texted a cocaine supplier during a Lehigh County Board of Commissioners meeting, the complaints allege.
Investigators said they corroborated the claim by reviewing publicly available video of the meeting, which showed Cole-Borghi on his phone at times, matching the messages.
Prosecutors also allege Cole-Borghi sold cocaine in the parking lot of Northampton Community College during a Peace and Justice Symposium presented by the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute on March 20, 2025.
According to the complaints, Cole-Borghi asked his marijuana dealer to leave product in his mailbox on at least one occasion because he had to attend the IronPigs opening ceremony. In another, he arranged a cocaine sale around a commissioner meeting and a speaking engagement at a mosque for Ramadan.
While on stage at a separate public event, he allegedly texted a drug contact using his Apple Watch, writing: “Not yet, I’m on stage using my watch to text you lol.” After one cocaine delivery, the complaints allege, he texted his customer: “Don’t forget to delete lol.”
In January 2025, according to the complaints, Cole-Borghi offered to help his marijuana dealer get a city government job, texting: “If you can get a CDL, I can get you into the city doing cake work and building a pension.”
According to the complaints, Cole-Borghi acted as both buyer and seller. He allegedly purchased cocaine across 26 transactions from one cooperating source and bought marijuana from two others over the same period.
He is also accused of selling roughly 129 grams of cocaine — approximately 37 eight-balls — to a fourth cooperating source across 14 transactions, netting over $7,000 in proceeds. Payments were made largely via Cash App, the complaints allege.
The four complaints were filed simultaneously Wednesday in Lehigh County. The alleged crimes span both Lehigh and Northampton counties, and across multiple townships, including Bethlehem City and Upper Saucon Township; Northampton County agreed to consolidate prosecution in Lehigh County, according to the filings.
Preliminary hearings on all four cases are scheduled for April 8, 2026, at 10:30 a.m. before Magisterial District Judge Tom Clair Creighton.
Wednesday’s charges are separate from those Cole-Borghi already faces. He was arrested in August 2025 as part of a broader grand jury investigation into a multistate drug trafficking organization involving dozens of defendants.
He posted $50,000 bail in that case. Chief Deputy District Attorney Craig Scheetz has said he intends to present additional charges, including conspiracy, against Cole-Borghi in that matter.
Cole-Borghi, a Democrat, was elected to the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners in 2021 and reelected in 2025. The City of Bethlehem said following his August arrest that he is no longer a city employee. He is being represented in the new cases by the Lehigh County Public Defenders Office.
Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel issued a statement following the announcement:
“We’re aware of additional charges being filed against Commissioner Zach Cole-Borghi. Mr. Cole-Borghi has a right to avail himself of the justice system and confront these charges before a jury of his peers. As to his future on the board, that is his decision to make. My thoughts are with his wife and children.”
Lehigh County Commissioner Ron Beitler, a fellow board member, also weighed in Wednesday in a Facebook post.
When the initial charges were filed in August, Beitler said he had declined to call for Cole-Borghi’s resignation out of respect for due process and the presumption of innocence.
Beitler said his position has since changed — not because of the new charges, but because of Cole-Borghi’s conduct at recent board meetings.
He cited instances in which Cole-Borghi used the commissioner dais to make statements in his own defense, abstained from multiple votes related to the courts, and publicly criticized county officials involved in his prosecution, saying those actions had created “inherent conflicts of interest.”
“The accused can no longer effectively perform his duties,” Beitler wrote. “This is not about politics. This is about whether the board can do its job.”
Beitler said he would encourage Cole-Borghi to resign, adding that he believes it is in the best interests of Lehigh County, Cole-Borghi, and his family.
The investigation was conducted by Drug Task Force Det. Sgt. Christopher Cruz and Det. Chadbourne Ellis, who also serves as a Homeland Security Investigations task force officer.
The cases will be prosecuted by Chief Deputy District Attorneys Craig W. Scheetz and Kevin P. McCloskey, according to the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office.
Cole-Borghi was taken into custody Wednesday morning in Bethlehem.
