Lehigh County Commissioner sold drugs while working at Bethlehem City Hall, DA says
Lehigh County Commissioner Zachary Cole Borghi was arrested on charges that he allegedly bought and sold cocaine from his home and his job inside Bethlehem City Hall, the district attorney's office announced Wednesday.
Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan said more than 100 new charges filed against Borghi were born out of a 2025 drug investigation involving the county's 12th Investigating Grand Jury. Court documents show Borghi became the subject of a drug trafficking investigation in May of 2024.
According to Holihan, Borghi played a minor role in that initial grand jury investigation, which involved more than 40 other defendants. Borghi was arrested and charged with two drug offenses in August 2025 and released after posting a $50,000 bail, according to court documents.
Following the conclusion of the grand jury case, the county began its own investigation into Borghi, which led to the charges filed on March 25, 2026.
"The grand jury put him on our radar and then additional investigation, additional evidence was obtained after the grand jury ended, and that led to today's charges," Holihan told CBS News Philadelphia.
As part of the investigation, search warrants were obtained for Borghi's cellphone and Apple iCloud records, which revealed he used his phone to conduct drug deals from multiple locations between November 2023 and August 2025, officials said.
Borghi allegedly used his phone to carry out the deals from his home in Bethlehem, a relative's home in Bethlehem, Bethlehem City Hall and Upper Saucon Township. According to the DA, deals were set up while Borghi was an employee with the City of Bethlehem, a job Holihan said he believes Borghi was terminated from following his arrest in 2025.
The district attorney said investigators also determined Borghi facilitated a drug deal during a Lehigh County Board of Commissioners meeting, and that he sold cocaine at Northampton County Community College while attending a "Peace and Justice Symposium" presented by the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute.
"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," Holihan explained.
Borghi faces 89 counts of criminal use of a communications facility, 14 counts of delivering a controlled substance (cocaine) and one count of delivering a controlled substance (psilocybin mushrooms).
Holihan said Borghi was taken into custody Wednesday morning in Bethlehem without incident and arraigned. Bail in the case has been set at $500,000.
He is still listed on the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners website as of Wednesday, but no information is included with his profile.
In a statement shared with CBS Philadelphia, Lehigh County Board of Commissioners Chair Geoff Brace called the allegations against Borghi "very serious."
"The complaints include alleged activity which occurred during a meeting of the Board of Commissioners. I have referred the matter to Lehigh County's Department of Law for guidance. There is no mechanism for the Board of Commissioners to remove a commissioner on the sole basis of criminal charges," Brace continued. "This body will move forward with its legislative duties for the residents of Lehigh County. I am not going to pretend this will be easy, but I am confident in the ability of my colleagues to navigate our duties and responsibilities. I leave the decision on whether Commissioner Cole-Borghi should resign to Commissioner Cole-Borghi. It is his decision to make."
In a separate comment, Commissioner Antonio Pineda called on Borghi to resign. "The additional charges announced this week are extremely serious and only deepen the concerns surrounding his ability to serve," he said in part. "Regardless of the outcome of these legal proceedings, the circumstances make it impossible for Commissioner Cole-Borghi to effectively carry out the responsibilities of his office. For the good of the county and to maintain public confidence, he should resign immediately."
