25°
Christian Ochoa, 28, of Laredo, Texas, was driving the drugs across the country and likely headed to New York, District Attorney Matt Weintraub said at a news conference on Thursday. He was likely just "passing through" Bucks County when he was stopped, Weintraub said.
Ochoa's passenger, Edith Tomasa Rodriguez Cardenas, 27, of Huntington Park, California, was a passenger in his car during the traffic stop, the DA said.
The arrests were likely part of a much larger narco-trafficking organization, and authorities were expected to utilize partnerships with federal agencies to track the source of the drugs, they said.
Bedminster Township officer James Zukow pulled over the Jeep for swerving four times over the fog line, and the driver consented to a search last Friday night, police said.
During that initial search, one kilogram of heroin/fentanyl and nine kilograms of cocaine valued at $1.2 million were seized. A subsequent search of a tractor trailer in Lehigh County turned up nine more kilograms of heroin/fentanyl valued at $2.7 million, police said.
Both searches led to the recovery of more than $43,000 in cash, a handgun. six cellphones, additional drugs, including almost $29,000 in Percocet pills, Weintraub said. Four Jesus Malverde candles, known as the Patron Saint of narco-traffickers, were also seized, he said.
Weintraub called the bust "great instinctual police work, some hard work and collaboration among law enforcement. We saved somebody else a lot of heartache and pain."
Ochoa and Rodriguez Cardenas were charged Friday night in the initial traffic stop with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of a small amount of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Ochoa was also charged with a lane violation. Both were arraigned by District Judge Michael W. Petrucci and were sent to Bucks County Correctional Facility under $1 million bail each.
Charges related to the Lehigh County search are pending.
In that search, a tractor trailer that Ochoa owned and had the logo "Ochoa Transport Services" was parked in Upper Macungie Township, authorities said.
K9 Baron from the Central Bucks Regional Police Department was called in to assist in the search and got a hit on the cab of the truck. The trailer was found to contain a legitimate load of agricultural products, police said.
The case was investigated by detectives with the Bucks County District Attorney's Office Drug Strike Force, Bedminster Township Police, Dublin Borough Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Doylestown Township Police, Upper Macungie Township Police, Central Bucks Regional Police, with assistance from the Department of Homeland Security and the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office.
The case is assigned for prosecution to Assistant District Attorney Megan Stricker.
"As you all know we are in the midst of a twin pandemic," Weintraub said. "We were already in a pandemic before we heard the word Covid-19 and that is the drug scourge that we 've been battling for years, and as a result of the COVID pandemic, drug overdoses are up.
"I am really pleased and proud to say thank you to our police officers and all law enforcement that collaborated on this drug bust. Because of it, so many of our loved ones will not suffer a death at the hands of these narco-traffickers."
Click here to follow Daily Voice Northern Highlands and receive free news updates.
